Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu has said that he will develop each district in Andhra Pradesh or the Seemandhra region into an IT hub like Hyderabad in the next five years, if the TDP-BJP combine is voted to power in the ensuing state Assembly election on 7 May. Polls to both Assembly and Lok Sabha will be held simultaneously in the 13-district region on 7 May.
Naidu was addressing an election rally in Kadapa on 7 April. The Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency is being represented by YSR Congress Party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy. Naidu also said that he will strive for the Ganga-Cauvery linkage project with the help of next NDA government at the Centre. NDA has been tipped to come to power at the Centre after this election. If the river linkage scheme is implemented in the drought-hit Seemandhra, each acre of land in the area will be irrigated for cultivation.
The TDP chief also said that Seemandhra is rich in natural resources and it has 1,000km-long coastal line, six to seven airports and seven sea ports. Utilising these resources, Seemandhra could be developed fast.
With the aim of developing the state, TDP has got into a pre-poll alliance with BJP and the NDA, he added. He also assured the safety and development of minority people in the state.
Naidu took a dig at both TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao (KCR) and YSRCP president Reddy. Referring to KCR going back on his promise to merge TRS with the Congress after the Telangana bill was passed in the Parliament, Naidu said that Congress has been taught a lesson by KCR. He added that Reddy's party is going to be defeated completely in the election.
Meanwhile, Naidu, on the same day in Hyderabad, released the list of the 27 candidates to contest the state Assembly election and the names of three candidates to contest Lok Sabha election in Telangana. TDP will release its first list of candidates for Lok Sabha and Seemandhra Assembly on 9 April, according to media reports.
(Edited by Vishnuprasad S Pillai)
