Amaravati: Telugu Desam Party national general secretary and MLC Nara Lokesh on Friday blamed chief minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government’s “anti-industry policies” for Andhra Pradesh falling to the 13th place in the country in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows by June this year. AP had earlier enjoyed the privilege of being fifth in the country under the previous TDP government, he said.
Lokesh said that AP could currently get only Rs. 2,577 Cr investment during October 2019 to June 2021 which resulted in its position slipping to 13th place. During 2018-19, AP stood in fourth place by attracting Rs. 19,671 Cr. AP under his father and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had competed with Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, while it has now fallen among the lesser performing states, stated the MLC.
In a statement, Nara Lokesh listed out that Tamil Nadu got an FDI of Rs 30,078 Crore, Karnataka Rs 1.49 Lakh Crore, and Telangana Rs 17,709 Crore from October 2019 to June 2021. During this period, AP managed to get Rs 2,577 Crore followed by Madhya Pradesh with Rs 2,233 Crore and Kerala Rs 2,154 Crore.
Lokesh expressed concern at the fact that while all neighbour states were reaching higher positions in terms of industrial growth, Andhra Pradesh was touching the lowest points in development and job creation. These FDI figures were as per the statements released by the central government.
Meanwhile, the TDP leaders accused the chief minister of starting another betrayal game in the name of incentives to the industries and companies. But the fact was that more money was being squeezed from the industrialists in the form of hiked power charges. Leaders from TDP claim that because of the YSRCP regime’s negligence, the industrial growth rate had fallen to -3.26 percent.