TDP rattled over Modi giving priority to Dholera project

A half-page advertisement by the Gujarat government in Telugu inviting investors to the Dholera smart city project in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rattled the ruling TDP in Andhra Pradesh, which has been seeking more funds for its new capital Amaravati.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which walked out of the BJP-led NDA government, is using the Dholera smart city project as a weapon to expose the Centre’s bias over denial of special category status to Andhra Pradesh. To prove his point, Chief Minister and TDP chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu at the recently concluded party conclave in Vijayawada played the video of the Prime Minister saying that the Dholera project will be six times bigger than Shanghai.

Naidu charged that the Centre has sanctioned Rs 44,000 crore to Dholera project and totally ignored the need of funds for the development of Amaravati. “The Centre had sanctioned a mere Rs 2,500 crores for Amaravati and released Rs 1,500 crores during the last four years,” Naidu said.

TDP spokesperson and MP K Ramamohan Rao said that Rs 5,000 crore has already been released out of the Rs 44,000 crore. His contention was that Dholera is being developed on a massive scale even as Gujarat has a well-developed capital city in addition to other four big cities.

“People of Andhra Pradesh didn’t ask for the division of the state. AP should get priority over Dholera and the state does not have fully developed capital city as Hyderabad is with Telangana,” Rao said.

“On one side the state BJP leaders question us for acquiring 33,000 acres for building Amaravati city, but what about the Gujarat government acquiring around one lakh acre for Dholera.

“Where is the need of advertising Dholera in AP, if the Gujarat government is funding the entire project, it is like rubbing salt on our wounds,” the TDP leader rued.

However, Union minister Dr Jitender Singh refuted these charges in Amaravati. He said no financial assistance has been given to the development of Dholera as claimed by the TDP. The state BJP also trashed the allegations and said that Andhra Pradesh will get three such industrial corridors whereas Gujarat gets only one.