Naidu has no moral right to speak on Seema irrigation projects: Peddireddi

Tirupati: Minister for Forests, Environment and Mines Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy said that Opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu who failed to complete the Rayalaseema irrigation projects despite being in power as Chief Minister for 14 years, has no moral right to speak on the projects.

Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, ahead of Chandrababu Naidu’s scheduled visit to the projects in Chittoor and Tirupati districts (on Aug 4 and 5), the senior YSRCP leader said Naidu ignored the much useful projects and even failed to bring waters to his Kuppam constituency but he now sets out on visiting the projects to ascertain their progress which is nothing but a gimmick and a desperate attempt to get publicity with an eye on the elections next year. Inviting the Opposition leader for a public debate on the status of the irrigation projects and the steps being `taken after YSRCP came to power for projects’ completion, the senior YSRCP leader while taking a jibe on Naidu, said that Kuppam is the right place for the debate. He said that it can be discussed what the former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and the current Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy contributed for the projects and what was done earlier by Chandrababu Naidu to provide irrigation facility to the parched Rayalaseema.

Reeling out the statistics on the Rayalaseema irrigation projects including Handri-Niva, Galeru-Nagari and Telugu Ganga, the Mminister said former Chief Minister YSR completed 90 per cent of the Handri-Niva but Naidu could not complete even the remaining 5 per cent works of the project during his rule between 2014 and 2019 and even Kuppam Branch canal works were also not completed due to Naidu expecting high commission by hiking the project cost from Rs 200 crore to Rs 400 crore, he alleged.