industrialists on YSR’s successor

Hyderabad, Sept 14 :

Influence of business barons, industrialists on YSR’s successor

More than the  common man it is  the business community and  the industrialists,  both  from  within the State and at the national level, who are closely monitoring the day-to-day developments in Andhra Pradesh and are influencing the Congress High Command’s decision on the successor of  Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy,  who  died in a chopper crash  on September 2.

Undoubtedly,  YSR was a  man of  the masses. But  he had good dealings  with  many industrialists, businessmen and realtors. Real estate and infrastructure are the  key areas where political support plays  a major role in Andhra Pradesh.

The fate of the projects which they were handling in the state now  hang  in a balance. Going by the statistics  all the major industrialists in the  country, from the Ambanis (who have gas and pipeline interests in the Krishna-Godavari basin) down to medium and large realtors, have  committed  to invest in the state following YSR's re-election in May, 2009. The industrialists have invested  thousands of crores  and a major  change in the  leadership in the  state  may upset the calculations of these  business barons.

Jagamnohan Reddy,  son of YSR, is  aware of  most of the commitments made by his  father  to the industrialists. It is no surprise  that these  industrialists  root for  Jagan  as  the chief ministerial candidate. The allotment of  developing the  two ports of Vodrevu in Nizampatnam,  and  Krishnapatnam, were bagged by Mr Nimmagadda Prasad, popularly known as Matrx Prasad, the  Director of the Pharma giant,  Matrix. According to the original proposal  the  land  required was only 9,700 acres  but  the plan was revised  to  grant 28,000 acres. Both these  projects  are at the initial stages. Same is the case with the Obulapuram Mining  Company(OMC). The  company  sought for  the  allotment of 10,000 acres of land but the YSR regime had alienated 10,700. Apart  from it,  YSR  himself  recommended to the Centre  to sanction a loan of Rs 10, 000 crore  to Mr Gali Janardhan Reddy, the  owner of  OMC, and Cabinet Minister in the neighbouring Karnataka State.

On the  constructions front, right  from  multi national companies  like  the Gammon to native  companies like  the Nagarjuna  Constructions  are  involved in the Jalayagnam, the pet irrigation project of YSR.   The major chunk of state funds  amounting to Rs 1,30,000 crore  are  allocated  to Jalayagnam, irrigation projects.

Sources  close to these industrialists  say  that unless a successor  with the same  commitment  to complete the  projects by getting the finances  is named by the  Centre it will be difficult  for them to make any progress. And hence, the pressure of  business and  industrial  heads  will have its own impact  on  the  chief ministerial candidate.