‘Delhiites can’t distinguish drinking, drainage water’

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the assembly polls in the city, TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday launched a scathing attack on the ruling AAP over the lack of infrastructure development and dubbed the Delhi model as a “total failure”.

Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is an ally of the ruling NDA at the Centre, took a jibe at the AAP government, saying Delhi has a “half-engine sarkar”, and needs a double engine sarkar to achieve development.

Speaking to reporters after an election campaign in the national capital, he highlighted lack of infrastructure development in the capital over the last decade.

“In Delhi, you cannot differentiate between drinking and drainage water” despite Central government schemes like AMRUT and Jal Jeevan Mission, he claimed.

These two schemes were not implemented because the credit will go to the BJP-led central government, he said, adding even Swachh Bharat Mission was not

implemented here.

He also said “weather and political pollution” were plaguing Delhi.

Underlining that performance and better living standards are becoming relevant and not ideology, Naidu said “poor people in Delhi have to think if they want to live permanently in slums without proper amenities and opportunities.”

He also questioned the sustainability of welfare politics without wealth creation.

“Without creating wealth, what is the right of a politician to distribute wealth?” he asked, calling for a national debate on the issue.

Drawing from his political experience since 1978, Naidu highlighted the stark contrast between Delhi’s current state and its historical position as a career-building hub.

“Originally, Delhi used to be home for building careers. It was our pride.Today, nobody is coming here. People are going from Delhi to other places for livelihood and opportunities,” he observed.

On development projects, he asked if there “have been any infra projects in the last 10 years? Long back, the metro had come. Nothing

has been done.”

Naidu termed Delhi’s controversial liquor policy as the “worst scam” compared to other corruption cases and spoke about his own experience of introducing Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) in 1995 to reduce impurities in liquor.

Advocating for a development-focused approach, Naidu proposed his “P4” model -- public, private, and people’s partnership -- to address poverty.

He suggested that the top 10 percent of high-net-worth individuals should adopt the bottom 20 percent to improve living standards.