It was a year of challenges for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the once poster boy of IT and reforms in India who completes one year in office in the truncated state tomorrow as he grapples with the fallout of an acrimonious bifurcation.
After a 10-year break, Naidu rode to power in last year's Assembly elections on the back of his image as a development-oriented leader, while YSR Congress was relegated to the second position and the Congress, once a dominant force in the southern state, decimated.
Naidu, however, found himself in an unenviable position as the new Andhra Pradesh (post formation of Telangana), comprising 13 districts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema had no capital of its own and the state had a revenue deficit of about Rs 16,000 crore.
Though Hyderabad, the crown jewel of undivided Andhra Pradesh, is the common capital for both states, the Andhra Pradesh government does not have any executive powers over the city or a share in the revenues from the metropolis.
The burden on the seasoned leader compounded with the huge funds required for implementation of his pre-election promises like waiver of loans for farmers and self-help groups for women.
Naidu had to announce a 43 per cent hike in salaries for state government employees after the Telangana government made such an offer to its own staff.
Naidu, whose TDP shares power with BJP both at the Centre and in AP, is also expected to deliver on promises made by the previous UPA government to Andhra Pradesh during bifurcation like special category tag to the residuary state.
Naidu has alleged that bifurcation last year was done in an unjust manner and denied a level playing to AP.
"It has been a very challenging year. We have, as a result of bifurcation and as a result of the last 10 years of mis-governance and corruption, inherited a very complex political, administrative and financial environment.
"The uncertainty during the last five years of the previous (Congress) government has compounded and complicated the challenges," Parakala Prabhakar, Advisor (Communications) to the state government, told PTI here today.
The government faced deficit on the fiscal and other fronts and had to leave the capital (Hyderabad), he said.
"The bifurcation was done in such an unjust way that it denied a level playing field to our state. In the sense, all the assets were divided on the basis of location. The liabilities were divided on the basis of population.
"Because, the assets were all built in Hyderabad, they went to Telangana. Because, the larger chunk of population belongs to Andhra Pradesh, we have got more liabilities," Prabhakar said.
