Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and former chief minister and Telugu Desam Party leader N Chandrababu Naidu are at loggerheads over the information technology projects that the latter executed in Hyderabad.
Reddy says some of the IT deals that the former Naidu government sanctioned look very shady.
"Naidu was notorious in giving away prime land to IT developers in Hyderabad without any transparency," Reddy told rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
"Naidu executed IT projects like a typical Nawab of Hyderabad," the Andhra Pradesh chief minister said, adding that the former TDP government sanctioned projects in the IT or infrastructure sectors "according to Naidu's whims and fancies."
Naidu dismissed Reddy's charges as baseless, and said that IT companies are "under harassment by the Reddy government."
"In fact, many IT companies are leaving Hyderabad these days because of the negative signals that the new government is displaying," Naidu told rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
He said it is sad that the Reddy government is investigating into the IT projects that his regime executed. "Let them do that. I tell you because of this harassment, everybody is trying to run away from Andhra Pradesh. This government lacks focus on IT investment and development," said Naidu.
Naidu said that many IT companies which had planned to come to Hyderabad before his government was voted out of power in May are now going to Bangalore, Chennai or Pune.
"The Reddy government is giving negative signals to potential investors and IT developers in Andhra Pradesh. There is competition all over the world. There is competition between Indian states. They are all giving land and infrastructure to promote IT companies. The Reddy government does not understand the basics of IT development," the TDP chief pointed out.
Naidu took credit for bringing in big companies like GE and Microsoft to Hyderabad.
"Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh is what it is today because of the right IT policy which my government undertook. It is being destroyed by the new government," Naidu charged.
But Reddy said that the Congress-led government is trying to lure investment into Hyderabad in a completely different manner.
"We have created a system wherein we identify the land and call for expressions of interest. We look at the qualification and the credibility of the IT developers who want to come. We go for the best bid only," Reddy said.
Asked whether his government is going to probe the IT deals inked by the Naidu regime, Reddy said: "We cannot probe some of the IT projects in spite of the fact that they look shady. You know, if you start digging everything that the previous government did, it sends negative signals."
"Our new investment approach will be credible unlike the previous government's which lacked transparency," the chief minister added.