IT's fine, but agri is No 1: YSR

is today easily the most sought after man in the state. From a seemingly hopeless position, YSR "� as he is popularly called "� has managed to bring the Congress to the brink of a seemingly impossible victory at the hustings.

Having just returned from a break in the hills, in Ooty in Tamil Nadu, after the heat and dust of the elections, YSR is a composed and determined man, and waiting for the 'inevitable' to happen on May 11, when the Assembly election results will be announced. Confident, yet not arrogant, YSR is sure that the Congress will get 180 seats and its allies another 40 seats in the 294 seat state Assembly.

There are a deluge of people outside his house at Jubilee Hills in the city and finding time with YSR, whom almost everyone considers to be the next chief minister of the state, is difficult.

YSR spoke to Business Standard along with the correspondents of the Wall Street Journal and The Guardian, who were also there to interview him. YSR spoke on a host of issues including the state's economy, IT, agriculture and on Telangana. Excerpts from the interview.

Andhra Pradesh got globally recognised, under N Chandrababu Naidu's leadership, for the development of the IT industry and development of the state in general. Why then do you think have the prospects of the Congress party brightened?

This impression of Naidu's nine-year administration is not correct. What you have heard or read is only hype, at which Naidu is very good. For example, the hype about Andhra Pradesh becoming IT hub of the country.

Neighbouring Karnataka accounted for about Rs 15,000 crore worth of software exports in the last financial year while the software exports from Andhra Pradesh for the same period were pegged at Rs 3,000 crore. Earlier AP was ranked third in the country in software exports. Now it has slipped to the fifth place after Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Noida.

And see the amount of industrial sickness in the state. Out of the 10 lakh people who lost their jobs in the entire country during the last two years, 71 per cent of them became jobless in Andhra Pradesh only. That is because of the large scale closure of industries in the state.

On human development parameters, the state has slipped to the 10th place from ninth place, according to the Planning Commission. Per capita incomes are lower than the national average. The SGDP of the state is only five per cent while the GDP of the country grew at six per cent.

Do you mean to say that Naidu has achieved nothing for the state during the his nine-year tenure as chief minister?

No, he can take credit for certain other things. For example, Andhra Pradesh ranked No 1 in the country in terms of women and child trafficking and the incidents of atrocities on women. The state ranked second in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS.

Three out of every four farmers who committed suicide in the country are from Andhra Pradesh alone. Naidu had not even tried to find out the causes behind such large scale (about 3,000) suicides committed by the farmers. Is it not the responsibility of the government to get to the bottom of such a problem?

But his government spent so much money on irrigation and in the rural sectors...

What the Naidu government spent in the last nine years on irrigation is only half of what the Karnataka government spent during the same period on that sector. But in terms of physical parameters, Andhra Pradesh is almost double the size of Karnataka.

The government of India had given Rs 5,000 crore worth rice for free of cost to the state under the food for work programme during the past four years. But 60 to 70 per cent of this was misappropriated by the ruling party leaders themselves. Naidu himself accepted that about 30 per cent of the rice given under the food for work scheme has been misappropriated.

Are you then going to do away with all that has been done in the IT sector and the reforms that were undertaken by the present incumbent once your party takes over? What would be your attitude towards foreign investments, especially those in the IT sector?

We are not against IT and not against anything that is good to the people and the state. We are not against privatisation, liberalisation or globalisation either.

As far as these processes help the people and the economy of the state we are okay with it. But, we are certainly against selling away of a profit making public enterprise for a song in the name of privatisation as Naidu did. We will not allow the policy of pushing the public sector into a debt-trap for the purpose of selling it to private people as Naidu did.

As far as foreign investments, and corporate activities of global companies are concerned, we will better the performance of Naidu's government, by removing red tape and other bottlenecks coming in their way.

But you have already come out with a different set of priorities for the future government according to which IT takes a backseat.

Yes. Agriculture, creation of irrigation infrastructure, growth of basic industry, reducing the cost of power generation and focus on employment generation would be our topmost priorities. The priorities of Naidu government were totally lopsided, which was why the state has failed to match even the national average on the growth front.

If the government focuses on strengthening the primary and secondary sectors, that not only will help keep the economy healthy and growing but also helps the growth of the tertiary or services sector. But focusing only on services sector at the cost of other two sectors will result in lopsided development and that was exactly what we have been witnessing in the state under Naidu regime.

How are you going to reduce the cost of power generation when the cost of inputs continues to grow everywhere?

The Naidu government has been willfully paying about Rs 300 crore to the private power projects like GVK, Spectrum and Lanco whereas the public sector Andhra Pradesh Gas Power Corporation Limited (APGPCL) has been producing power at a much cheaper cost when compared to these projects.

A private sector project is expected to offer more competitive price when compared to a public sector project. But the situation here is the opposite. Even the Comptroller and Auditor General had pointed out this issue two three years ago. So we will renegotiate with these companies on their bulk tariff.

The AP government under Naidu has done the same in other areas too. For example, the state government's wholesale liquor trader APBCL (Andhra Pradesh Beverages Corporation Limited) offers Rs 340 crore extra money to the liquor manufacturers as compared to the bulk prices paid by neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Why would any government do that?

The government pays extra money to these private companies because that money comes back to Naidu through the backdoor. That is how he has amassed the wealth and spent crores of rupees in the elections.

You have been critical of the Naidu government for its heavy borrowings. Where would you get the resources for your grand plans of investing in irrigation and other basic sectors? What is your thought on the World Bank policies and its loans.

We will have to depend on borrowings for the huge investment requirements in irrigation and basic infrastructure. But I will assure you that each and every penny would be spent only on the productive sector.

We will approach the financial institutions, including the World Bank to reduce the cost of borrowings. That is how we will try to reduce the debt burden. After all, the World Bank too has to rethink about its policies in the wake of the negative results in Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu has publicly said that there is a nexus between the naxalites and the opposition Congress-TRS combine in this elections. What would be your approach towards the extremist problem in the state?

Dialogue is the most accepted form of democracy that has been used in the resolution of violence and bloodshed in Ireland, Sri Lanka, Kashmir and elsewhere in the world.

The Naidu government has opposed any dialogue with the underground PWG group, thereby creating a situation where even the life of a chief minister is not safe.

Once limited to the north Telangana districts, now the PWG has expanded its activities to coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of the state as well.

We have to resolve the issue by bringing these extremist groups across the table to sort out the contentious issues if any under the existing framework of the Constitution. When unemployment becomes the biggest problem, some of the youth will be attracted to extremism. This is a socio-economic problem and we have to address it accordingly.

What is your stand on the separate statehood to Telangana?

The demand for separate statehood came because of the utter negligence of this region by the Naidu government, especially on the irrigation front.

As far as the demand is concerned we are committed to the formation of a second state reorganisation commission which will come out with appropriate recommendations.