Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s unusual interest in favouring a private party than a government entity in building the Bhogapuram international airport led to severe criticism.
Last year, when the Naidu government floated tenders for the airport project, the Airport Authority of India bagged the bid as it offered 38 per cent return on investment to the government.
However, a few months ago, the government suddenly cancelled the contract disqualifying the AAI from the contest showing strange reasons.
A report in an economic daily newspaper indicated the AAI authorities wrote a letter to Naidu asking reasons for its rejection. They even threatened to move the court questioning the arbitrary decision of the Naidu government.
Apparently, Naidu wanted to favour big businesh house Adani Group, which has come forward to take up the airport works on built-own-operate and transfer mode. Needless to say, Adani is also closer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The YSR Congress party alleged that it was Ashok Gajapathi Raju who cancelled the deal with the AAI, when he was the union minister for civil aviation.
“Ashok went on record stating that they do not have capacity and resources to build the airport. After cancelling the bids, Chandrababu Naidu and his coterie wanted private builders to take over the airport development as there would be kickbacks,” YSRC leader and former minister Botsa Satyanarayana said.
He said a CBI inquiry only can reveal the real intentions of the TDP government in rejecting the government bid and going for private sector for development of the airport at Bhogapuram.
