We Never Asked Lulu Group To Opt Out Of Its Investment Plan In Vizag: Gudivada Amarnath

YSRCP leader Gudivada Amarnath, who held five portfolios including Industries and Commerce for two years in the YSRCP government, claims that the strong foundation laid by the previous regime is being weakened by the TDP-led NDA coalition on political grounds.

He also blamed Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for trying to tarnish their party president and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's image by distorting facts and indulging in propaganda that they did not do anything for accelerating development in the State when they formed the government after a landslide victory in the 2019 elections. Refuting the charge that there were flight of investments from Andhra Pradesh during the YSRCP regime, he said it was a fact that they never asked Abu Dhabi-based LuLu Group to get out of Visakhapatnam by dropping their Rs 2200 crore investment project in an international convention centre, a multiplex and a five-star hotel in Visakhapatnam.

In an exclusive interview with Bizz Buzz, he clarified that they only wanted the LuLu Group to set up their project at an alternative site instead of a prime location near the RK Beach, where the land cost was undervalued when the erstwhile TDP government signed MoU with the group and kick-started the work just before the general elections in 2019. "We never asked them to get out and what we told them was to develop the project at an alternative site as the land parcel allotted to them was of high value. Also it would have further worsened the traffic woes on the beach road," he told Bizz Buzz in an exclusive interview

What was the hallmark of the YSRCP government in bringing industries to Andhra Pradesh?

Our leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, a visionary, had a clear cut approach on how to develop the State by giving a big boost to port-led development and bringing investments by improving the ease of doing business. Unlike the Naidu Government, which indulged in hype by signing MoUs at annual Partnership Summit with negligible realisation, they did not opt for MoU signing rituals. We signed MoUs with prospective investors after a detailed exercise and only after getting convinced that they are serious about their plans.

We signed 386 MoU envisaging an investment of Rs.13 lakh at the Global Investors' Summit organised in March, 2023 in Visakhapatnam. Periodical follow-up with a resolve to incorporate mid-course corrections whenever required, we could achieve a realisation of 19 per cent in one year and three to four months, which is praiseworthy by any standards. I myself met TCS leadership on a couple of occasions and their top brass also had met Jagan Mohan Reddy, who was holding the office of the Chief Minister in the past. However, the present dispensation, after one or two customary meetings, made an announcement through Naidu's son and IT Minister Nara Lokesh that TCS is setting up a facility in Visakhapatnam by offering jobs to 10,000. If they come, it's well and good and all of us will be happy. However, the TDP and its friendly parties are indulging in creating hype. Let TCS make a formal announcement..all of us shall greet it wholeheartedly.

Did the YSRCP leadership ask LuLu Group to back out of their investment plan in Visakhapatnam?

Who said so? We didn't ask them to go. Our only objection was, even when we were in the Opposition, the MoU signed with them for allotment of nearly 14 acres including the land acquired from a sea-facing function hall owned by a private firm (as part of a swap deal by allotting them six prime plots in Seethammadhara, MVP Colony, near HSBC and other posh areas with free registration charges) for a throwaway price. When we were the main Opposition, we had raised strong objection to the deal, which we strongly felt is not in the larger interest of Andhra Pradesh in general and Visakhapatnam, the largest city in the State in particular. Hence, we wanted to renegotiate with LuLu Group and allot them an alternative site. Our government was also of the view that the prime land which was given to LuLu Group would have further complicated the chaotic traffic on the beach road, which is thronged by an estimated one lakh people during the weekends and public holidays.

We also never asked Amara Raja factory in Chittoor to move out of AP as claimed by the TDP and its friendly media. Naidu, as everyone knows, is good at creating hype when nothing has taken concrete shape. A classic instance was the investment plan by oil major BPCL to set up a project worth Rs 50,000 crore near Machilipatnam Port. He made such an announcement when BPCL management was exploring suitable sites in Gujarat and other States. In fact, we never staked a claim when In Orbit Mall belonging to the Raheja Group started work on its mega mall in Visakhapatnam in the land belonging to Visakhapatnam Port Authority. We were also responsible for Infosys starting its operations in the city. In fact, any company will always make a small beginning and later scale up their operations. TCS proposal to develop a centre in Visakhapatnam, if materialised, will also begin with recruitment of few people to start with. For a mancount of 10,000 one needs 1.5 million sft of built-up space, which will not be available anywhere readily. We never made false claims that Capegemini and Foxconn are making huge investments in AP as the talks remained inconclusive during our time, we don't find any logic behind the social media postings on investments by Foxconn when nothing had taken any final shape.

You were saying that when your party was in power, your thrust was port-led development. Can you specify the initiatives taken by your government during 2019-24. In fact, we got sanction for development of various nodes under three industrial corridors including Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor, which criss-cross through our State. In tune with the Centre's focus on the blue economy, we had established the AP Maritime Board, started work on 10 fishing harbours (one of them is already operational). We had acquired 8,000 acres for the Orvakal industrial node near Kurnool and grounded work on Kopparthi industrial node and Kris City near Krishnapatnam Port. For Kris City we did the groundwork to create a conducive investment climate.

We earmarked land for Bulk Drug Park at Nakkapalli after convincing the Centre for sanction of Rs.1,000 crore for creating the required infrastructure to develop another pharma cluster on the lines of Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City (JNPC) at Parawada Due to proactive approach adopted by Jagan Mohan Reddy, we had launched work on greenfield ports at Machilipatnam, Ramayapatnam and Mulapeta under the aegis of AP Maritime Board with an investment of Rs.12,500 crore and add cargo handling capacity of 150 million tonnes. Financial closure for the all these projects were achieved with plans afoot to increase the capacity in due course of time to 300 million tonnes. The gateway port project at Kakinada was also taken up during our regime.The end-result is Ramayapatnam port is getting ready for operation in a record time after we launched work in September, 2022 Mulapeta and Machilipatnam ports are scheduled to start their operations in 12 months. We didn't consider feelers from Arcelor-Mittal and others to develop captive ports who wanted a site for development of port plus an area of 5,000 acres to set up steel plant and other industries in the vicinity as an industrial cluster.

What is your party's stand on proposed privatisation of RINL, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant?

Our government was very firm on preventing RINL from privatisation and was instrumental in pausing the decision in the past. Our Chief Minister had spoken to the Central leadership and wrote several letters to the Prime Minister to explore alternative options like granting captive mines, capital restructuring and land monetisation to a limited extent to retain RINL in the public sector as the steel plant is considered as Pride of Telugu people going by its background.

YSRCP along with steel plant workers and public organisations will organise protests including dharnas in a big way in the near future against the privatisation bid. We are thoroughly disappointed that the Chief Minister failed to take up the RINL issue seriously during his recent trip to Delhi.

TDP chief Naidu did not provide a clear statement on halting the privatisation. It is shocking that Naidu is unsure about the situation, despite previously opposing privatisation during elections. It is the responsibility of every Andhra citizen to protect the steel plant, which was achieved after a long struggle and the sacrifice of 32 individuals. The TDP-led coalition government is taking steps to weaken the plant within just 100 days of coming into power. Employees are being demoralised by denying them wages with the talk of transfers and reduction of staff, cut in wages and delayed disbursement of salaries. Now only one among three blast furnaces is being operated to further increase the losses so that to create a situation where the steel plant can be sold for a song.

It is unfortunate that TDP with 16 MPs could not take a firm stand to save the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, especially when a smaller group of MPs managed to protect the Bhadravathi Steel Plant in Karnataka. Naidu should issue an ultimatum to the Central Government, just as was done to protect other plants in States like Karnataka and Gujarat. We want to tell everyone that the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy had provided jobs to the families of 3,500 workers who gave their land for the steel plant, and his son, YS Jagan, had successfully prevented privatisation during his tenure as the Chief Minister.