&w=3840&q=100)
'India's Deng Xiaoping': Andhra Pradesh CM Naidu on Rao's reforms
The Andhra CM is on a two-day visit to the national capital, where he is scheduled to meet PM Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and others. He met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday. In his meetings with the PM and Union ministers, Naidu will seek the Centre's support for projects in his state, release of pending funds, the Polavaram–Banakacherla river-linking project, and issues related to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) sources said.
On Tuesday evening, Naidu delivered a lecture on 'The Life and Legacy of P V Narasimha Rao' at the Prime Ministers Museum and Library (PMML) in the national capital. His lecture was the sixth in the PMML-organised Prime Ministers Lecture Series. He described Rao as a 'true Telugu bidda', or Telugu son of the soil, who 'reshaped the destiny' of India, and said the Telugu community is proud of his contributions. Rao, who passed away in December 2004, was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2024.
Referring to the recent controversy over some states accusing the Centre of imposing Hindi, Naidu said Rao had mastered 17 languages and serves as an inspiration in the current context. The Andhra CM said Rao, despite leading a minority government, accomplished the near-impossible task of forging consensus on economic reforms among socialists, communists, and capitalists alike.
Naidu credited Rao's prime ministerial tenure, and subsequently that of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for India's first-mover advantage in the information technology sector and for building world-class infrastructure, especially in roads and telecommunications.
Naidu said that in 1978, when Deng launched China's economic reforms, both India and China were $140 billion economies, while the US economy was 15x larger at $2.3 trillion. Now, the US economy is only 1.5x bigger than China's, and more than 7x bigger than India's. 'They (China) are catching up (with the US). We are behind,' Naidu said, stressing that the journey from being the world's fourth- or third-largest economy to one of the top two will be much more challenging.
Naidu said 2014 was a turning point in India's growth story, with the country getting Modi as PM, who has 'ushered in a new era of bold and decisive leadership'. He said the goal is not just to grow fast, but to grow fairly, where every citizen, every region, and every sector shares the fruit of progress.
Citing World Bank data, he said India is among the top four most income-equal countries but stressed that the country still needs to become more equitable. He urged the top 10 per cent of India's wealthy to uplift the bottom 20 per cent, appealing to them to follow tech billionaire Bill Gates' example and 'give back to society'.
On his vision for Andhra, Naidu spoke about his government's Quantum Valley initiative in Amaravati. He urged youth to join politics and said the TDP's parliamentary party is the youngest in the Lok Sabha. He also noted that TDP's representative in the Union Cabinet, Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu, is the youngest minister at the Centre.
During his visit to Delhi, Naidu and Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy are also scheduled to attend a meeting on water issues being facilitated by the Centre on Wednesday. The Telangana government is expected to press the Centre to grant approvals and funds for its long-pending projects. It had earlier conveyed its objection to the Centre regarding Andhra's Banakacherla river-linking project, saying that it hurts Telangana's interests.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hans India
10 minutes ago
- Hans India
Fund Diversion: Temple committees demand crackdown on false claims
Mangaluru: In a bid to counter rising misinformation, members of temple management committees from Dakshina Kannada have urged the Karnataka government to initiate legal action against individuals alleging that temple hundi funds are being diverted for non-Hindu religious causes or to the state treasury. The demands were made during a consultation session hosted by the Department of Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments at Kudmul Ranga Rao Town Hall on Friday. District in-charge and Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, who presided over the meet, described the campaign of falsehoods as dangerous and politically motivated. 'These claims are often broadcast on national television and are misleading the public. Temple committees must counter these narratives with facts,' he said. Rao also highlighted that tastik payments to certified priests had been increased from ₹24,000 to ₹72,000 under the Congress government. 'The system was introduced by my father, former CM Gundu Rao, and has been consistently strengthened,' he noted. MLCs Manjunath Bhandary and Ivan D'Souza expressed concern over the misuse of temple spaces. Bhandary advocated for ID cards for B and C-grade committee members and visible notices at temples assuring donors that funds are not misappropriated. Cultural scholar Lakshmish Gabladka stressed the need to preserve temple-based traditions in coastal Karnataka while limiting political interference. He advocated development of temples belonging to Scheduled Castes and called for recognition of poojaris as legitimate Hindu leaders. Committee member Raghava H from Beltangady suggested reviving art forms such as Yakshagana and devotional music within temple precincts. Other speakers, including Dilraj Alva, Venkappa Gowda, and Balakrishna Gowda, recommended a fast-track mechanism for temple land disputes, funding parity, and expansion of tastik grants. The session was attended by several dignitaries including former minister Ramanath Rai, Cashew Development Board chairperson Mamatha Gatti, MUDA chairman Sadashiva Ullal, former MLC Harish Kumar, Kannada and Tulu Academy president Sadananda Mavanje, deputy commissioner Darshan H V, ZP CEO Vinayak Karbari Narvade, and ADC Dr Santosh Kumar. The programme began with a welcome by endowment department assistant commissioner Jayamma and an introduction by Bappanadu Temple officer Shwetha Pally.


Deccan Herald
25 minutes ago
- Deccan Herald
Five municipal corporations: The Greater Bengaluru Jigsaw puzzle
Bengaluru: 'In 1990, when I became a councillor for the first time, Bengaluru city was just 180 sqkm. In 1995, it expanded to 225 sq km. Then came seven town municipal councils and one city municipal council around it. In 2005, it expanded to the 800 sqkm range as Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP),' remarks P R Ramesh, who was the mayor of Bengaluru in 2002, just when the information technology boom started consuming the the area, wards, population and administrative challenges in governing Bengaluru also increased. The erstwhile Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government attempted to redraw the ward boundaries of Bengaluru but was unable to hold the municipal elections. .The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government recently passed the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act and notified the five-way division of Bengaluru, paving the way for one reform that can help resolve many issues in the city if implemented correctly, but can also easily cause a mess if not handled carefully..'Anti-Kannada'.Like any other exercise related to Bengaluru, this also has turned into a BJP-Congress tug of war. Ramesh N R, former president of the BJP- Bengaluru South District, calls it a 'major conspiracy that renders Kannadigas orphans', 'extremely unscientific' and 'a conspiracy to sideline the original residents of this land'..He says the move is anti-Kannada, with the central part being dominated by Urdu and Tamil, the North by Urdu and Telugu, the South by Urdu, Telugu, and some Kannada, and the East by Telugu and North Indian languages. He brands the Western part as 'the only area retaining a Kannada majority'..'As a result, Kannada-speaking members will be permanently denied the mayoral post in four out of the five new corporations. Only Urdu, Telugu, or Tamil speakers are likely to become mayors. This is a grave injustice to Kannadigas and a decision that cannot be undone,' he are also political motives, as seen in this step. 'In the past two elections held after the formation of BBMP in 2007, the Congress could win only 58 and 76 out of 198 wards. To end the BJP's hold over BBMP, the Siddaramaiah government has now devised this strategy,' he says in a note..'In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Rajarajeshwarinagar Assembly Constituency played a major role in the defeat of the Congress candidate by giving a lead of over 90,000 votes to the BJP. Dividing this constituency into three separate corporations appears to be political vengeance,' he says. He adds that the division of the Padmanabhanagar Constituency, represented by Opposition Leader R Ashoka, reflects the politics of jealousy..'Greater Bengaluru': D K Shivakumar announces multi-storey parking lots near court lists problems such as financial imbalance, unemployment, and real estate issues, which he says corporations in Delhi have faced. 'Eventually, the three corporations had to be merged again,' he other metro cities, such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad, function under single corporations; so, why should Bengaluru be any different? He asks..P R Ramesh, who is a Congress politician, remarks that the move is necessary to help decentralise the city administration. 'The city has been growing beyond imagination without proper planning. We need to take such steps to ensure that development is planned well. Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) will coordinate between all the corporations and ensure the functioning of the corporation is smooth,' he logic behind GBA Act has three conditions hard-coded into it: No corporation should have less than 10 lakh population. The minimum property tax collected should be Rs 300 crores. The population density (population/sqkm) should be greater than 5,000. The GBA Act says assembly constituencies should fit within a corporation 'to the extent possible'. .The Brand Bengaluru Committee, tasked with the division, had to incorporate all these parameters while dividing BBMP into five challenge was to obtain the official population figures for such a major exercise, as the last census was conducted in 2011. Various datasets were also used for this purpose. .'There is a figure of 1.44 crore population estimated for the BBMP area and for 28 assembly constituencies in 2023 by the district election commissioner, but this does not have ward-wise population, which is important in the context of BBMP division,' says V Ravichandar, who is a part of the committee. .'On paper, BBMP has 225 wards, but since no elections were held, these wards did not take root in administration. Therefore, the pre-2021 era data for 198 wards is the basis for all statistics. We used this,' he explains. .The committee also obtained booth-level voter data from the district election officer and estimated the number of voters in the ward, then extrapolated this to the total population using the voter-population ratio for Bengaluru assembly constituencies to arrive at the population next challenge was to figure out the revenue for each new corporation. .'In Delhi, the division failed because they have no overarching structure like GBA. They also had huge differences in their property tax revenues, resulting in imbalances,' he says, adding that the aim was to minimise property tax disparity. .BBMP's latest 2024-25 property tax data was used to estimate this. The East division had the largest area, low population, but high revenue. The West division had a higher population but lower revenue. Efforts were made to minimise revenue disparity, with various permutations and combinations. .When a balancing act was attempted, more assembly constituencies were cut, or the population disparity between East and West became huge. Increasing the East population to over 10 lakhs without a significant impact on property tax increases was challenging. .The jigsaw puzzle of balancing population, revenue, and constituencies finally resulted in a model where the maximum difference between the corporation (as per the 2024-25 property tax receipt data) is approximately Rs 360 crore. This proposal was cleared by the State Cabinet and has been gazetted as a draft notification, superseding the BBMP Act five out of 28 assembly constituencies are getting cut: Yashwanthpura and Padmanabhanagar are shared between West and South, Dasarahalli is shared between North and West, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, which is in the West, also extends to North and a very small part to the South as well; and Mahadevpura extends from East to South. .Would this impact any of the MLAs of those constituencies?.'Since MLA is a part of the corporation, he/she has voting rights in the Corporation in which a large part of the constituency falls. They can attend the council proceedings in any Corporation where their constituency extends, but they can not vote there,' explains Ravichandar. This means there is no problem practically for MLAs to state gives 60-70% of the overall capital expenditure budget as grants to the BBMP under various schemes, which will continue in future as well. The property tax revenue will be allocated to salaries, maintenance, and revenue expenditure. There will also be inflows into the Corporations from SFC and CFC next?.Both the BJP and the Congress Party have been exploring various ways to govern Bengaluru more effectively, while also trying to balance their interests. As a result, every new proposal, from the master plan to city governance models and elections, reaches the courts. Civic groups also join such fights with objections and reasons. .The draft of the five-way division has been notified, and people can submit their objections and observations within 30 days. Once the draft is revised and modifications are made, the final notification will be published. .Then comes the ward delimitation exercise, which involves redrawing ward boundaries in each ward. Each city corporation can have up to 150 wards per the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act. This exercise is likely to take its own time, as no party is generally happy with what the other political party the corporations are formed, there will also be an administrative and infrastructural overhaul, including the division and movement of files among various sections, as well as numerous other time can reveal how long all these processes will take, and when Bengaluru will see the five corporations actually functioning. Meanwhile, the city will continue to be governed without councillors, who form the foundation of local democracy.


Hans India
40 minutes ago
- Hans India
State BJP unveils ‘Sarathyam' logo, tour to start from Kadapa
Vijayawada: BJP Andhra Pradesh unit launched the 'Sarathyam' (Leadership) logo at its state office, with state president P V N Madhav leading the event. Addressing the media, Madhav announced a state-wide tour starting from Kadapa, a symbolically significant location, to engage with party cadres and highlight India's progress under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Madhav emphasised the BJP's growth as the world's largest political party and outlined the 'Sarathyam' initiative, rooted in the 'Antyodaya' philosophy for empowering marginalised communities. The tour, planned in five phases, aims to foster leadership among cadres, beginning in Kadapa, a district noted for its historical and cultural importance. On state issues, Madhav affirmed the government's commitment to investigating the recent liquor scam. He reiterated the BJP's support for developing Amaravati as the state capital, with Rs 30,000 crore allocated for projects, including railway connectivity. Madhav also mentioned discussions with Union ministers in Delhi to advance Andhra Pradesh's development and noted that decisions on nominated posts would be made collaboratively with coalition leaders. BJP leaders, including Lanka Dinakar, Sheikh Baji, Sadineni Yamini Sharma, Rongala Gopi Srinivas, Keshav Kanth, and Adduri Sri Ram, attended the event.