During the weekly review meeting on Polavaram and other ongoing irrigation projects with the officials at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi on Monday, the Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu wanted the officials to continue to exert pressure on the Centre for the release of funds for the Polavaram project.
He directed the officials to write letters to Union Minister of Water Resources Nitin Gadkari and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, requesting them for immediate reimbursement of the amount spent by the State government on the project.
Does the Chief Minister honestly feel that writing letters will serve any purpose? He visited Delhi 29 times and met the Union Ministers and Modi on many occasions.
As a partner in the NDA with 2 Ministers in the Union Cabinet from his party and eternal support in the form of none other than Venkayya Naidu, what was it that Naidu could achieve for the State? Zilch! Zero! Nothing!
Now, does he feel that writing letters will do the trick? He can at least save on paper and contribute his bit to the environment.
Remember the time when Vizag was ravaged by Hudhud and Modi visited Visakhapatnam?
“How much do you need to get Vizag back on track, Chandrababu?” asked Modi. Without batting an eyelid, Naidu replied, “Rs 70,000 crore.”
Modi fainted on the spot but quickly recovered and left Vizag after sanctioning some Rs 900 crore of which the State got around Rs 200 crore.
Now, Naidu is asking for money already spent on Polavaram. He would be better off asking that amount from Rayapati rather than Modi.
