United States President George W Bush, during his one-on-one interaction with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy on Friday sought to know more about the host city, the host state and the host himself.
At a news conference on Friday evening, Dr Reddy said Bush enquired about his family. "I told him that I had an early marriage. I have a son and a daughter. Both of them are married. I have four grandchildren. He said, 'Oh!'" he recalled.
Dr Reddy quoted Bush as telling him that "we are also trying to get our daughters married".
The chief minister said that the US president evinced interest in knowing more about Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, the priorities of the state government in the last two years and the relations of the state with the Centre.
Dr Reddy briefed him about the initiatives taken by his government on the agriculture front, the Jala Yagnam programme for completion of irrigation projects at a cost of 10 billion dollars in a five-year period and another plan to take up construction of four mega irrigation projects costing another 10 billion dollars.
The chief minister said that he gave an overview of the state capital, the infrastructure projects that are being planned, including the international airport at Shamshabad, the Hussainsagar lake that separates Hyderabad and Secunderabad and the project being taken up for its cleaning and rejuvenation, the other water sources for Hyderabad like Osmansagar etc.
He told the visiting dignitary that Hyderabad and AP have a long history. People of different faiths and religions co-existed in this part of the country for centuries. He also informed Bush about the strides made by Hyderabad in Information Technology and other high technology fields in recent times.
Dr Reddy said that though the US President did not make any announcement about the $ 100 million dollar agricultural research initiative, "it is on cards and the government of India and the US government are working out the details".
The chief minister said that the visiting dignitary was quite impressed about Hyderabad, which he termed as a model city in the progressive state of Andhra Pradesh.
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