Naidu sworn-in as first CM of new Andhra Pradesh

Makes first signature on farm and Dwakra loan waiver file

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo, N Chandrababu Naidu, was today sworn-in as first chief minister of residuary Andhra Pradesh at a function at Nagarjuna Nagar, 18 km from here. Governor ESL Narasimhan administered the oath of office.

Naidu made his first signature on a file related to forming an expert committee on implementation of farm and Dwakra (Development Of Women And Children In Rural Areas) loan waiver, and on files pertaining to abolition of liquor belt shops and NTR Sujala Sravanthi scheme, which promises safe drinking in villages. Naidu also signed files related to sanction of Rs 1,000 as pension per month to the elderly, widows and physically challenged.

The expert committee on loan waiver has been given 45 days to submit its final report. Meantime, it has been asked to come up with basic guidelines to identify loans eligible for the debt waiver scheme within 15 days.

In the election manifesto, Naidu promised to waive agriculture loans taken by the farmers in 13 districts of Seemandhra.

Rural loan dues in the banking system in 13 districts of residual Andhra Pradesh stand at Rs 87,000-crore. These include term loans and loans taken by self-help groups (SHGs), according to the State-level Bankers' Committee (SLBC). Of this, crop loans, including gold loans taken for the purpose of cultivation, alone works out to be around Rs 59,000 crore.

According to officials who briefed Naidu, the least financial commitment expected to arise out of this programme would be about Rs 34,000 crore even after eliminating all other types of loans, including gold loans, if ever the government wants to somehow stick to its promise.

Raising resources for a programme of this scale will be a very difficult task for the state, which is expected to start with a revenue deficit in the first year even though the government would be looking at ways for the repayment of these loans in a five-year period, according to the officials.

At today's event, senior leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including LK Advani, and Murali Manohar Joshi, Union ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Prakash Javadekar, Nirmala Seetharaman, Sadananda Gowda and Piyush Goyal were present.

Chief ministers Parkash Singh Badal of Punjab, Manohar Parrikar of Goa, Vasundhara Raje Scindia of Rajasthan, Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh, T R Zeling of Nagaland were also present.

Others who were sworn-in along with Naidu include, KE Krishna Murthy representing Pattikonda in Kurnool district, and Chinna Rajappa of Peddapuram in East Godavari district, Atchannaidu Kinjarapu (Srikakulam), Kimidi Mrunalini (Vizianagaram), Ganta Srinivasa Rao (Visakhapatnam), Paritala Sunitha (Anantapur), Palle Raghunathareddy (Anantapur), Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy (Chittoor), P Narayana (Nellore), Yanamala Ramakrishna (East Godavari), Pattipati Pulla Rao (Guntur), Ravela Kishore Babu (Guntur), Devineni Uma (Krishna), Kollu Ravindra (Krishna), Pitala Sujata (West Godavari) and Siddha Raghava Rao (Prakasam).

Besides, BJP MLAs Manikyala Rao (West Godavari) and Kamineni Srinivas (Krishna district) too have been inducted into the Cabinet.