From how Vijayawada floods were handled to the row over Tirupati laddu, as Chandrababu Naidu completes 100 days as the CM of Andhra Pradesh, a look at his few hits and many misses.
Published Sep 23, 2024 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 23, 2024 | 10:52 AM
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In Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu Desam Party-led NDA alliance completed 100 days in office a few days ago. In the 100 days, Chandrababu Naidu had only a few hits to celebrate but many misses.
The TDP-led alliance’s initial euphoria of winning the Assembly elections is slowly dying as reality dawns on the government that it has to fulfil its promises to the people, albeit with near-empty coffers.
Adding to the CM’s vows, his charge against the previous YSRCP regime and allegation of animal fat and adulteration in Tirupati laddus has spread like an all-consuming conflagration across the nation.
The Tirupati laddu row has become sensational enough that it is proving difficult for Chandrababu Naidu to handle. He seems unable to get off the tiger he was riding on with YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and TTD officials categorically denying that adulterated ghee was used inside the temple.
After winning the Assembly elections in June this year, Andhra CM tried to find ways to keep his promises. Unfortunately for him, the unforeseen calamity that struck Vijayawada in the form of heavy rain and floods threw everything out of gear. He sure aced the test undeterred and combatted the ravage caused by Budameru with grit and determination.
Though there was no strong Opposition to breath down his neck, Naidu swung into action and went to people’s rescue. Even in the past, he has proven that he is good at rising to challenges, like when the Hudhud cyclone ripped through the coastal city of Visakhapatnam in October 2014.
Like the Hudhud, floods tested Chandrababu Naidu’s skill in disaster management. The state government was caught unaware as the calamity struck Vijayawada immediately after Naidu took charge as the CM of Andhra Pradesh. The floods was eerily similar to the cyclone Hudhud as both struck right after Naidu took charge as CM – first in 2014 and now in 2024.
The swollen Budameru invaded the northern part of Vijayawada like a deluge, causing untold misery and taking a heavy toll on human lives. More than 35 people died in the floods and several people lost their homes and livelihood.
Day and night, Naidu was in at the centre of relief operations, standing with victims and their families. As the CM himself was overseeing relief work, affected people began hoping that the state government would help them navigate through the crisis, though they were aware that the state may not be able to compensate them fully for what they had lost.
Chandrababu Naidu’s priority was to attend to the victims of unprecedented floods. He spent a lot of time with officials, finalising an attractive relief package to the victims. The money payable as part of the package is set to be credited into the victims’ bank accounts by 25 September.
The package includes ₹25000 to those whose houses, in the ground floor, suffered severe inundation and ₹10,000 to those with affected houses in the remaining floors. Similarly, ₹25,000 will be paid to those who lost their small businesses in floods and monetary help is being provided to those whose vehicles were washed away and farmers who lost their crops.
It is not that Naidu did nothing about implementing his promises after coming to power. He raised social welfare pensions to ₹4,000 from Rs.3,000 and it is being paid to the beneficiaries on time. He has also revived a majority of Anna Canteens, signed the file relating to holding a mega teachers’ hiring drive called District Selection Committee (DSC) Recruitment and conducting skill census to train youths in helping them acquire the skills they would need to thrive.
He also repealed the Land Titling Act immediately after he was sworn in.
Since beginning, his focus remained on flogging Polavaram and Amaravati back to life. For the time being, he is trying to build the ambience to get the Polavaram project going. The cabinet also took a decision to retain the same contracting firm which was used during the YSRCP regime to speed up work on the diaphragm wall. It is essential for the project related work to proceed without delay.
In an attempt to ensure that the work will begin in the winter of this year, the CM has asked officials to persuade the centre to release funds generously as it is a national project.
After completing 100 days in power, Andhra Pradesh CM has bigger challenges to face. Naidu’s detractors say he did not take attempts to keep his promises to people.
Though 100 days is too short a period for judging a leader, people opine that his promises should have been grounded and realistic from the beginning as he can’t really implement his ‘Super-Six’ let alone other promises.
The Super-Six promises in election manifesto
Soon after coming to power, Chandrababu Naidu ordered officials to work out ways to implement the Super Six promises. Though they had submitted reports to him on some of the schemes, there has not been much progress.
For instance, the officials worked on an elaborate exercise to implement free ride to women on RTC buses. The officials visited Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to see how the scheme was being implemented. They later submitted a report to the government and that is where the buck stopped.
Similarly, officials began working on Annadata Sukhibhava, a scheme to empower farmers, but the CM’s focus apparently shifted and the scheme is now in a limbo. The main problem, according to Naidu’s own admission, is that he has very little money left in the state exchequer.
Ever since becoming the CM of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu has been targeting YSRCP for all the economic ills that were plaguing the state. Though his contentions might be right, blaming a party which has been routed would not solve the problem.
It might make sense if the YSRCP was a formidable opposition like the BRS in Telangana. That way the CM can gain political benefit by blaming the Opposition party. It is not the case in Andhra, where YSRCP’s strength has been reduced to mere 11 members in the Assembly.
Sadly, that hasn’t stopped Chandrababu Naidu from attacking Jagan-led party, making one wonder – Is the CM trying to find an excuse for not fulfilling his promises?
He released white papers on major departments in the state which were primarily meant to indict the previous YSRCP government. He, in fact, faced flak when he benched 16 IPS officers without assigning them any work. Rubbing salt on their wounds, he asked them to report to the DGP’s office every day, and sign a register while reporting for duty and again when they get off.
The way he went after some IPS officers suggested he was acting out of spite against them rather than punishing them for the mistakes they had committed when YSRCP was in power. It appeared as though he was acting vindictively.
It gave credence to YSRCP’s allegations that he was running the state by Red Book constitution – a book in which were listed out the names of those who acted against the TDP when the YSRCP was in power.
(Edited by Neena)
