The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) – currently the key kingmaker from the new government in the Center – has given its first indication that it would like a share of new investments in the electronics manufacturing space, in semiconductors and smartphones, to come to the coastal State of Andhra Pradesh.
The party’s general secretary and son of party chief Chandrababu Naidu, Nara Lokesh – who recently won from the Mangalagiri Assembly constituency with a thumping majority – said that while the TDP may not be vying for cabinet berths in the central government with the intensity that has been previously reported, he outlined that increasing investments in Andhra Pradesh under centrally-subsidized schemes like chip and smartphone manufacturing are among the demands they are making to the BJP.
“We have issues like Amravati, Polavaram, backward district funds, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, bringing various agencies to invest in Andhra Pradesh, performance linked incentives in fab manufacturing, bringing electronics manufacturing, investments in the ports sector because ours is one of the largest coastline. states,” Lokesh said during an interview with NDTV.
“TDP never negotiates for posts (in the central government), we only negotiate funds for the state, to bring industries to our state… strong states make a strong nation, and we want to be part of the $5 trillion economy dream. We believe that Andhra Pradesh alone can be a trillion dollar economy,” he added.
The Indian Express had earlier reported that the party, and its tech-savvy leader Naidu, will use the leverage they currently have over the formation of the government at the Center to lobby for such investments to come to the state, which has been reeling the bifurcation and with Hyderabad – its previous economic center – no longer its official capital.
With the BJP managing 240 seats in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls – well short of the majority mark of 272 – TDP’s 16 MP-elects are crucial for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), along with MPs from parties like Janata Dal (United) , Shiv Sena, and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).
In the last 10 years, when the BJP had a majority in the Lok Sabha on its own, thus relegating the role of its NDA allies, there was a feeling that many of such investments went to the state of Gujarat. Just before the Lok Sabha polls began, three projects in the chip ecosystem, including a foundry by the Tata Group and an assembly plant of Micron Technology went to the western state. A number of smartphone manufacturing plants, including Foxconn which assembles iPhones, went to states like Tamil Nadu. Together, these two states represent the bulk of ongoing and upcoming projects in the electronics manufacturing space.
When the erstwhile Foxconn-Vedanta chip plant (which later fell apart) was shifted from Maharashtra to Gujarat, it had given way to a lot of political furore.
With the TDP’s rise now as a crucial ally, some of these investments could now be routed to Andhra Pradesh, a senior BJP leader had earlier told this paper — thus changing the electronics manufacturing map of India significantly.
Apple supplier Foxlink, which makes cables for iPhone chargers, already has a base in the state, potentially allowing for more such suppliers to set up shop in Andhra Pradesh. Xiaomi, too, has a manufacturing base in the state. So do car makers like Kia and Isuzu.
With Hyderabad no longer the official joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Naidu’s party could capitalize on the opportunity to develop the capital city of Amravati, along with pulling a number of manufacturing projects along the Visakhapatnam Chennai Industrial Corridor.
Naidu’s newfound kingmaker status could help resolve the financial constraints that have hit the construction of his dream capital of Andhra Pradesh, Amravati for the designs of which he had roped in British architects Foster and Partners and Baahubali director Rajamouli. However, the project has far from taken off, especially after the World Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank dropped plans to lend funding for the capital project due to political uncertainty in the state.
Amravati has been central to Naidu’s politics and a subject of stiff tension between TDP and key opponent Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) who had stopped awarding contracts in Amaravati citing irregularities during his tenure. While Reddy wants Visakhapatnam to be the administrative capital of AP, Naidu has vowed to back Amravati.