Former minister Ambati Rambabu has accused Chandrababu Naidu of damaging the Polavaram project and reducing it to nothing more than a barrage. Speaking to the media in Tadepalli on Friday, he said that the State government had taken over Polavaram from the Centre only to misuse funds, even though the project was originally mandated to be completed by the Union Government under the Reorganisation Act. He alleged that the decision to construct a diaphragm wall without first building a cofferdam led to a massive loss of nearly one thousand crore rupees. He also claimed that the spillway was ignored because it would not generate immediate financial gains.
Ambati said that both the Polavaram project and the Amaravati capital plan had become endless stories with no progress in sight. He questioned why the government was silent about restricting Polavaram to 41 meters, which effectively reduces it to a barrage level. He criticised what he described as treating the project like an ATM. According to him, the first phase funds of over twelve thousand crore rupees should have been released before the elections, but Chandrababu allegedly blocked the process. He added that unless the dam height reaches 45.72 meters, the Uttarandhra region will not receive water.
Ambati also targeted Chandrababu over Amaravati, questioning why he had not built a house there despite speaking extensively about the capital. He accused him of inflating estimates repeatedly and turning Amaravati into a symbol of unchecked exploitation. He did not spare other opposition leaders either. He questioned Nandendla Manohar’s criticism of the government, saying he had failed even in tasks like paddy procurement. He alleged irregularities in rice distribution and criticised Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, asking whether he had taken any action on the ship he said should be seized. He also said that Minister Satyakumar had no moral ground to speak when government hospitals were unable to provide proper healthcare.
In a sharp remark, Ambati said that those referring to certain leaders as Pulivendula MLAs seemed to forget that they were all elected from a single place and not scattered across different regions. But Ambati Rambabu’s comments were nothing but an old script aimed at reviving a failed narrative and people are well aware that both Polavaram and Amaravati suffered because of the YSRCP government, not Chandrababu Naidu, and no amount of political noise can change that reality.
