Yearender: A year of political change in Andhra

Amaravati, Dec 30:  The year 2024 was the year of political change in Andhra Pradesh with an overwhelming public mandate in favour of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led alliance.

While the first half of the year witnessed a bitter fight with YSR Congress Party going all out to retain power, the second half saw reversal of fortunes as the TDP-Jana Sena-BJP stormed to power.

Unprecedented floods in Vijayawada, resumption of state capital works in Amaravati, controversy over the sacred Tirumala laddu, attempts to attract investments were the other key developments of the year.

The return of veteran politician Nara Chandrababu Naidu as the Chief Minister and actor Pawan Kalyan taking over as the Deputy Chief Minister after finally proving his mettle as a politician have been the highlights of the state’s political story during the year.

The 74-year-old Naidu turned emotional as he took oath as Chief Minister at a public event in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Fighting a do-or-die battle of his political career, the TDP supremo’s return was remarkable as riding on the anti-incumbency wave the three-party alliance made YSRCP bite the dust.

In his 45-year-old career, Naidu rarely showed emotions but this was a defining moment for him after suffering humiliation in the Assembly and for the first time being jailed on allegations of corruption.

He was so hurt over the humiliation he faced in the state Assembly in November 2021 that he publicly broke down and had vowed to return only after winning the election and becoming the Chief Minister.

However, the biggest challenge for him came in September 2023 when he was arrested for alleged irregularities in the Andhra Pradesh Skill Development Corporation during his previous term as the chief minister (2014-19).

After spending 52 days in Rajahmundry Jail, he stepped out on bail on October 31.

While he was in jail, Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan announced his alliance with the TDP to take on the YSRCP.

As the elections drew closer, the BJP also joined them. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s bid for another term in power faced a challenge from within the family as his sister Y.S. Sharmila became president of the state unit of the Congress party.

Sharmila and her cousin Y.S. Sunitha Reddy joined hands to add to Jagan’s troubles as they accused him of shielding the murderer of his uncle and former minister Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy five years ago.

While Sharmila failed to revive the political fortunes of the Congress, which once again drew a blank, the NDA dashed all hopes of the YSRCP to repeat its 2019 performance when it had bagged 151 seats in the 175-member Assembly and won 22 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats.

The YSRCP’s tally in the Assembly plunged to a mere 11 while it could retain only four Lok Sabha seats.

The TDP bagged a whopping 135 Assembly seats, the Jana Sena won all 21 Assembly seats it contested while the BJP secured eight seats.

By winning 16 Lok Sabha seats, the TDP also emerged as a key player at the Centre in propping the BJP, which failed to secure a majority on its own.

Realising that he needs a helping hand from the Centre to put the state’s finances back on the rails to fulfill his poll promises, to execute his dream project Amaravati and complete the long-pending project Polavaram, Naidu decided to sail with the BJP.

Naidu seems to be getting his pound of flesh. The Union Budget 2024-25 presented in July met most of his wish-list. The Centre promised to arrange Rs. 15,000 crore through multilateral development agencies in the current financial year.

Naidu resumed works in the state capital that had come to a standstill in 2019 with the three capitals policy of the YSRCP government.

Since assuming office, Naidu has approved infrastructure works worth Rs.47,972 crore in the capital region.

He announced that the works will be completed in three years.

Blaming the YSRCP for neglecting Polavaram, which is expected to be the lifeline of the state, Naidu started focussing on the mega irrigation project.

The coalition government set the target of completing Polavaram by October 2026.

As promised during elections, Naidu signed five files after taking charge to hike social security pensions, conduct a mega District Selection Committee to recruit teachers, withdraw the Land Titling Act, revive Anna Canteens and conduct the country’s first skill census.

On November 1, Naidu launched a scheme for providing three free cooking gas cylinders to those living Below Poverty Line to fulfil one of the promises made in the ‘Super Six’ announced in the elections.

Facing flak from the Opposition for the delay in implementing ‘Super Six’, the government last week constituted a committee of group of ministers to evolve scheme for free bus travel for women.

Living up to his pro-business and tech-savvy image, Naidu went aggressive to invite investments to the state by offering incentives to the industry in various sectors.

Naidu claimed this month that the state attracted Rs.4 lakh crore investment which will create over four lakh jobs.

Listing out the achievements of his government during the last six months, he revealed that pensions were being distributed to over 64 lakh beneficiaries by spending Rs 33,000 crore per annum while 40 lakh cooking gas cylinders have been supplied to poor families under the Deepam-2 scheme.

Amaravati hosted the national drone summit, where the government unveiled its drone policy with the target of setting up at least 100 drone manufacturing units and attracting Rs 1,000 crore investment in the sector over the next five years.

The policy is aimed at making Andhra Pradesh the global destination for drone technology.

In October, the government announced six policies to turn the state into an industrial powerhouse by attracting investments in various sectors.

The policies were announced for industrial development, MSME & entrepreneur development policy, food processing, electronics, private parks and, integrated clean energy.

This was claimed as a significant step towards fulfilling the promise of creating 20 lakh jobs in five years.

The industrial policy has the target of attracting Rs.30 lakh crore in the manufacturing sector during the next five years.

It aims to operationalise investments worth Rs. 5 lakh crore during the policy period.

The policy has set the target of attracting Foreign Direct Investment of Rs. 83,000 crore and creating five lakh jobs in manufacturing sectors.

It was announced that the government will develop over 175 sector and cluster-focussed industrial parks. The policy also aimed to double exports to Rs 33,200 crore.

The MSME & Entrepreneur Development Policy aims to attract Rs 50,000 crore in the manufacturing sector.

The target is to have 22 lakh units both in manufacturing and services.

The policy aims to create 5 lakh jobs in the manufacturing sector.

The NPTC Green Energy Limited (NGEL) signed a joint venture with the New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP) to set up renewable energy projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore in the state.

The joint venture is expected to create employment for 1,06,250 people with an estimated financial benefit of Rs 20,620 crore over a period of 25 years.

In September, the new government faced its biggest challenge when unprecedented rains battered Vijayawada and its surroundings.

The breach of Budameru Rivulet led to the worst floods in the city in the last 50 years.

The deluge claimed 46 lives and affected more than 10 lakh people.

Leading from the front in relief operations, Naidu camped in worst-hit Vijayawada for 10 days.

The row over adulteration of sacred Tirumala laddu also rocked the state. It all started with Naidu’s sensational allegation that ghee adulterated with animal fat was used for making sacred offering of the Tirumala temple when the YSR Congress was in power.

This led to a bitter war of words between the ruling combine and the YSRCP as Jagan Mohan Reddy hit back at Naidu, accusing him of making false allegations and hurting the sentiments of devotees.

The former chief minister had to cancel his visit to Tirumala temple after leaders of TDP, Jana Sena and BJP threatened to disrupt it. They wanted Jagan to sign an undertaking before entering the temple as per the temple rules for non-Hindus.

While hearing the matter, the Supreme Court observed that Chandrababu Naidu should have ‘kept the gods away from politics’ before rushing in to make public statements based on unsure facts that lard was used to prepare the laddus in the previous regime.

The row also saw Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan projecting himself as a saviour of Sanatana Dharma with his aggressive stance and 11-day ‘Praschit Deeksha’, which ended with a visit to the Tirumala temple.