Congress rule destroyed Andhra Pradesh's brand image: N Chandrababu Naidu

HYDERABAD: Alleged corrupt practices during Congress rule destroyed Andhra Pradesh's brand image as an investment destination and led to a decline in its industrial growth by half a per cent, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said here tonight.

Releasing a white paper on industries, which is the third in the series of white papers on various sectors, he said that the industrial sector contributed 24.11 per cent to AP's Gross Domestic Product until 2004 when the Telugu Desam Party was in power, but fell to 23.61 per cent during the decade of Congress rule.

Agriculture's share fell drastically from 25.96 per cent in 2004 to 19.04 per cent while the services sector's contribution increased from 49.92 per cent to 57.34 per cent.

"The quid pro quo system adopted by the then Y S Rajasekhara Reddy regime from 2004 to 2009 scared investors away from Andhra Pradesh.

Major industries like Volkswagen, Royal Enfield, Tata Motors, Siemens and others which showed interest in setting their units in Andhra Pradesh, shifted to other states because of government corruption," he pointed out.

"By 2005, 9.72 lakh jobs were created in Andhra Pradesh compared to 8.87 lakh jobs in Gujarat, but by 2012, Gujarat overtook Andhra Pradesh creating 13.83 lakh jobs as against 13.62 lakh jobs in Andhra Pradesh. This clearly established that AP lost its competitive edge," Chandrababu said.

Referring to the CAG reports, he said that over 88,000 acres of land was illegally allotted in the name of industrial development.

"The Congress government entered into quid pro quo deals and allotted lands to benefit only certain individuals. The CAG established that 88,492 acres of land was indiscriminately allotted to 1027 beneficiaries," he said.