‘Protest against Naidu showed people’s pent-up feelings’

The people of north Andhra have realised that TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu is against development of the region, Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao has said.

Addressing the media here on Friday, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said that Mr. Naidu’s opposition to making Visakhapatnam the Executive capital and his obsession with Amaravati without any concern for the backward north Andhra and Rayalaseema regions were unpalatable to the people of the region.

Stating that the government was committed to developing all the three regions, the Minister said the objective was to avoid demands for further bifurcation of the State in the future.

People showed their pent-up feelings by obstructing Mr. Naidu’s convoy on Thursday, the Minister claimed, and added that he was prepared to resign if the TDP leaders could prove that people from Pulivendula were involved in the protest at the airport.

Objecting to Mr. Naidu criticising the police, he said: “Had the police not been there, he wouldn’t have been able to return safely to the airport lounge.”

The Minister alleged that the TDP leaders were spreading falsehood on the pooling of land that was aimed at distributing house sites to the poor. In Visakhapatnam district alone, 1.75 lakh people sought house sites. Of them, one lakh people were residing in the four Assembly constituencies in the city being represented by the TDP, he said.

The Minister said that developmental works worth crores of rupees were being undertaken in the city, and if the TDP tried to obstruct them, the people would teach it a lesson.

Araku Utsav

Referring to the Araku Utsav, the Minister said that tribal people from neighbouring States would also be invited to showcase their art and culture. A ‘Girijan Mela’ would also be held during the two-day festival being organised from February 29.