Date:11/09/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/09/11/stories/2004091104780500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

WB funding: Congress indulging in doublespeak, says TDP

By Our Staff Reporter

CUDDAPAH, SEPT. 10. The Telugu Desam Party MP, C. Ramachandraiah, on Friday charged the Congress leaders with `doublespeak' on securing World Bank funding and alleged that the credibility of the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Government was `questionable' and hence no financial agency was willing to fund its projects.

Addressing a press conference, he recalled the oft-repeated charge by Congress leaders in the past that the TDP leaders and the former Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, were World Bank's `agents' and termed the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Government of being a `parasite' on the World Bank. The Congress gained votes by propagating that the TDP was a World Bank `stooge' and drove the State into a debt-trap, but was now struggling to garner funds in the face of looming uncertainty.

`Low credit rating'

Referring to the circular issued to all department and sectoral heads by the Principal Secretary, Finance, V.S. Sampath, the MP said YSR who once flayed the TDP, now made consultation of World Bank experts mandatory before taking any decision. The previous TDP Government effectively raised resources from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and DFID, etc. in its nine-year rule, but the YSR Government is unable to secure funds due to its low credit rating, he alleged.

The Congress Government lacked a proper perspective and vision and was upholding the decisions taken by its predecessor, the TDP, after reviewing them for extraneous considerations, Mr. Ramachandraiah alleged. The previous TDP Government had signed an MoU for Austrian funding, which was being pursued by the Congress with little success, he stated.

Political violence

The MP charged Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy with engineering vengeance attacks against the TDP with a view to wiping out opposition. The massacre of TDP cadre continued unabated despite representations to the President and the Governor. The political executive was unduly influencing the official machinery right from secretaries to the MROs and pliable officers were conniving with the ruling party for liquidation of the TDP cadre, he alleged.

Law and order was the first casualty, followed by the power sector and development due to non-committal efforts and Congress was foregoing investors who preferred investing in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the TDP leader alleged. Leave alone attracting investors, the State Government would fail even in arresting migration of capital, he alleged.