New Delhi [India], August 4 : YSRCP MPs G Thanuja Rani and M Gurumoorthy said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has reduced governance to "credit theft" by claiming Bhogapuram Airport as his achievement.
Thanuja Rani said Union Minister Pemmasani Chandrasekhar was speaking irresponsibly merely because he had wealth and a ministerial position. "He was in the United States when the YS Jagan government executed the Bhogapuram works and therefore had no moral right to distort the project's history."
She challenged the TDP to a debate in Parliament, stating that YSRCP would present every official record. "Even TDP leaders admit that 86 per cent of the airport works were completed during YS Jagan's tenure."
She also questioned the Rs 300 crore spent on International Yoga events and asked what benefit such publicity and Guinness records had brought to tribal communities.
Gurumoorthy said the runway was built under the YS Jagan government, while TDP leaders were now cutting ribbons and claiming credit. "Land acquisition, compensation, statutory approvals and removal of legal hurdles were completed under YS Jagan, with the airport made possible through the sacrifices of farmers. Government records would continue to prove this, irrespective of TDP's publicity."
He said the TDP government had not completed land acquisition by 2019. "After YSRCP came to power, land was acquired, farmers were compensated, and the project moved forward with GMR in 2023. Farmers and fishermen had approached courts because the previous TDP government proposed acquiring 15,000 acres, creating fear over its land hunger. Those cases were cleared by 2022. When even London Heathrow operates on about 3,000 acres, YS Jagan only questioned why Bhogapuram required 15,000 acres. The project was rationalised to around 2,700 acres, and all land hurdles were removed."
Gurumoorthy also demanded action on rising airfares, declining passenger growth and excessive fares burdening Tirupati pilgrims.