The people of Andhra woke up to a full page advertisement from the ruling government on the eve of June 2, which marks three years since Telangana was bifurcated from the state.
The ad was issued by state government. The multicolor ad titled, "Nava Nirmana Deeksha - let’s pledge..achieve progress", gives a call to the people of the state to take a collective pledge to build a corruption free, disparities free and employable state.
Chandrababu gave the call to set a collective goal of making the state the third best in the country by 2022, the best in the country by 2029, and the best state in terms of standards by 2050. The Chief Minister also reiterated the same pledge later in the morning at Vijayawada, at the Nava Nirmana Deeksha function, and said that the state bifurcation was a result of corrupt and selfish politics.
But while Chandrababu’s statements sound exciting, political analysts say that they’re over ambitious.
Stating that the target set by Chandrababu’s government was impossible, political analyst Telakapalli Ravi said, "There is no release of funds from the union government, and his own speech during the TDP's 'Mahanadu' itself clears the financial plight of the state."
"No one is stopping him from aiming at, or pledging for big projects, but all that requires a huge amount of money. The present progress of the Polavaram project shows that it will not get done even by 2025," he added.
Ravi also went on to add, "The Andhra Pradesh Finance Ministry shows that the state has a very low income. However, the Chief Minister said he will increase the income from 700 crores to 17,00,000 crores. How is it possible? Does he have any basis for these claims?"
Ravi questioned the "false motives" behind Chandrababu's intention to hold such a large public gathering right after Mahanadu, less than ten days later. Hitting out at the Chief Minister, he also wondered why Chandrababu was afraid of the central government in seeking special status.
Speaking to TNM, YSRCP spokesperson Ambati Rambabu slammed the Chief Minister for wasting public money on events like the Nava Nirmana Deeksha.
"When the Chief Minister himself has asked people from all walks of life to contribute money for the development of the state, how is it possible to afford these ads?" he asked.
He added, "They claim that Nava Nirmana Deeksha is a government programme, but it looks like a party programme. Giving advertisements like this is doing nothing but generating revenue for the media houses. The ads were full of false claims."
Rambabu termed Chandrababu’s speech "old tamarind pickle." He said that the CM should go to Delhi and fight instead of sitting in Vijayawada.
"Yes, anyone can take a pledge against corruption, but Chandrababu Naidu does not have any moral right to do that," he added.
However, some say that the advertisements were just a regular part of what political parties did, and that Chandrababu was no exception.
Senior journalist K Nageshwar Rao observed that "no one can assess any one’s capacity in the tenure of three years, for that matter no city in the world has emerged in three years."
Speaking of huge advertisements, he said, “Modi claimed in same way that he will bring back the black money, didn’t he?"