Andhra Pradesh bifurcation: KCR vs Naidu- 6-months later

The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was probably one of the worst battles that India had witnessed in recent times. However after a lot of ill will between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh the state was finally bifurcated and in no time both Chief Ministers K Chandrasekara Rao and Chandrababu Naidu had to move on and face the practical difficulties and challenges ahead of them.

The Telangana government completed 6 months in office a week back while Chandrababu Naidu achieves that milestone today. Let us take a look at how both the governments have fared in the past six months and also the challenges ahead of them.

Telangana

A large majority in Telangana have not yet recovered from the emotions and still are relishing in the joy that they have a separate state after almost 5 decades of struggle.

K Chandrasekara Rao had several sound bytes in the first few months and all the talk was surrounded around bad mouthing the people of Andhra Pradesh especially his main rival Chandrababu Naidu. Let us not forget that even Naidu had resorted to similar tactics.

Failures

On the economic front the KCR government has found lacking in several departments. The power situation continues to remain a concern and it has been noticed that KCR has not been too industry friendly.

His decision to hastily waive off the farmer loans without putting much thought into it has scared the industry away to a large extent. There has not been much on the investment front and although there were promises made by several investors much of this has not been fulfilled as yet.

Farmer woes

There may have been a lot of goodwill among the farmers in Telangana after their loans were waived off. However what the government failed to do was study the issue thoroughly and went ahead and fulfilled an election promise.

There has been a rise in farmer suicides as banks have been denying fresh loans. The power crisis in the state has also made matters worse. This had led to farmers taking personal loans and unable to clear it due to high rates of interest have eventually resorted to the extreme step.

Waiting for jobs

A lot of students who felt that Telangana was the answer to every problem however feel cheated by the government. They expected jobs in a jiffy, but this is taking more time than expected.

KCR prides himself on providing sops to the already booming IT sector. In addition to this there are others like the government officials and police force who are happy as they have been given an increment and also new cards. However in all this the students have not yet been given the jobs they would have expected.

Many students complain that KCR should cut to the chase instead of waging a battle against Andhra Pradesh. He is giving too many sound bytes and is in the news for various reasons including announcing Sania Mirza as the ambassador of the state. These are all political stunts which do not help in the long run.

The positives

Listed below are some of the plus points of KCR. He announced a Rs 10 lakh package for the families of the martyrs. He has waived up to Rs 4250 crore loan of the farmers.

Boosted the security mechanism by spending Rs 300 crore on police vehicles. A pension scheme hike for widows has been provided. The scheme also has covered the physically challenged and aged persons. The cases against those who had protested for a separate state has been lifted. Several measures to ensure women's safety have been introduced.

Chandrababu Naidu

For Naidu the challenge has been much bigger when compared to KCR. He is yet to build a new capital which itself is a big challenge. He has promised that a new capital between Vijayawada and Guntur will be completed by 2019 and it would resemble Singapore.

Waiting for investments

Naidu's biggest challenge would be to get the investor to Andhra Pradesh. He is in talks with investors from both Japan and Singapore. This will be the backbone of the economy as the agriculture sector is nothing to pride about for him now.

Plugging the leaks

The other challenge before Naidu would ensure that the deserved income reaches the state coffers. He says that there is an urgent need to monetise the assets of the state. The tax collection is not that efficient as of now. It needs to be bettered immediately.

There is an urgent need for him to act on the Rs 16000 crore deficit for the years 2014 and 2015. Andhra Pradesh was hit by a major cyclone which only made matters worse for them.

The positives

It would be too early to list out the positives although one must hand it out to Naidu that he is a man in a big hurry and is working in the right direction. He has a plan and says that by 2022 Andhra Pradesh will become a model state.

Fortunately for all the people of the state, he along with KCR sat down at the behest of the governor and ironed out their differences. Their small talk accusing each other had become an irritant for the people of both states which have bigger worries than listen everyday on television two tall leaders bad mouthing each other.