Why this has blown into an ugly controversy is because of the kind of money that has been splurged on it.
TDP accused Jagan Reddy of building hill palace worth Rs 500 crore
New Delhi,UPDATED: Jun 20, 2024 12:28 IST
Rushikonda in Telugu translates to 'Hill of the Sages'. But the resort on Rushikonda in Visakhapatnam, now more commonly and disparagingly referred to as 'the Jagan palace' on social media, is anything but saintly. Built on a sprawling 9.88 acres, the estimated cost is Rs 365 crore as per official records, though Telugu Desam estimates put the figure at Rs 550 crore.
At one point in time, the Andhra Pradesh Tourism's Haritha Resorts stood at the same spot, on top of a hill overlooking the Bay of Bengal. The modest facility was redeveloped in 2021, ostensibly to create a plush resort with premium villas and beach-facing suites. What emerged, however, was a magnificent structure consisting of as many as seven blocks. Construction work took place in the utmost secrecy with the place out of bounds for everyone. A senior police officer who has visited the resort several times in the last year to check it from the security point of view said the resort now includes space for security personnel, chambers for secretaries to the chief minister, the Chief Minister's office, space for guests and finally, the Chief Minister's residence. Besides, the blocks also offer facilities such as fitness centres, cafeteria and banquet halls.
Why this has blown into an ugly controversy is because of the kind of money that has been splurged on it. It is opulent and fit for a king of a flourishing kingdom, not the chief minister of a state that is scraping the bottom of its exchequer. Besides, the project was completed despite several environment-related petitions filed against it including one for alleged violations of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules.
The YSRCP also never came clean on the actual purpose of creating such a lavish structure. Even as neutral bureaucrats confirm that it was intended for the purpose of housing the Chief Minister - if Jagan returned to power in 2024 - and his camp office, YSRCP has argued that the President and Prime Minister of India could stay there instead of hotels in Vizag when they came visiting. It has also cited it as a move to promote tourism in the coastal city that was announced as the Executive capital of Andhra Pradesh by the Jagan regime. Under fire after the inside of the building was shown to the world, the YSRCP said the building is a government asset and not anyone's private property.
A detailed inquiry which is due to be ordered, will bring out how the Finance and Tourism departments sanctioned budgets way beyond what rules of the Roads and Buildings department stipulate. Under government rules, standard rates are fixed for every aspect of construction of a government building - what kind of bathroom tiles, sanitary ware, flooring, paint and the works - and contractors are bound to follow that. If there is a deviation from the norm, appropriate government orders and note files from the competent authority have to reflect it.
Politically, if the June 4 results of the Andhra Pradesh assembly election where the YSRCP was reduced to a paltry 11 seats was a body blow, the party and Jagan personally seem to have lost the battle of public perception over the Rushikonda property. The ruling Telugu Desam and Jana Sena are going to town telling the people that this is the way Jagan administered the state by splurging on his personal comfort by spending crores of taxpayers and public money.
In a very ironic way, 2024 is also proving to be a mirror image of 2019. Soon after taking over as Chief Minister five years ago, Jagan had ordered the demolition of the Praja Vedika, a convention hall built by the previous Chandrababu Naidu regime at a cost of Rs 8.9 crore, citing illegalities in construction. The YSRCP had also sought to harass Naidu alleging that the Undavalli residence where he stays on rent, was built on a riverbed in violation of environmental norms. The then chairman of the AP State Capital Region Development Authority, Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, had even threatened to evict Naidu from his residence. The shaming of Jagan over Rushikonda is a classic political tit-for-tat.
In Tadepalli near Vijayawada, the road adjoining Jagan's present residence has now been opened for the public after being closed for the past five years. Jagan largely functioned from the camp office at Tadepalli and came to the Secretariat complex in Velagapudi only for Cabinet meetings and Assembly sessions. From a public point of view, this is akin to what happened in Hyderabad after the defeat of the BRS. Pragati Bhavan, the official residence of the Telangana chief minister was fortified with huge iron structures when K Chandrasekhar Rao was at the helm of affairs. These structures occupied a significant part of the main road, leading to clogging up of traffic and putting commuters to inconvenience. When the Congress came to power in December 2023, it ordered the removal of the barricades.
Jagan is also being accused of ‘furniture theft’ as official furnishing is still being used at the Tadepalli camp office of the former chief minister. The Education and IT minister, Nara Lokesh, sought to embarrass Jagan by asking when he would return the furniture. Though the YSRCP has offered to pay for the furniture, this is a deja vu moment for the party because five years ago, the former Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh assembly Kodela Sivaprasad Rao was similarly accused by it of not returning furniture he used while in office. Rao was shamed by the YSRCP on social media and called a ‘furniture thief’. Rao killed himself in September 2019.
Faced with these bouncers, Jagan will have to decide whether to attend the first session of the Assembly. He is bound to take oath as a newly elected MLA, but whether he would want to do that in the face of inevitable jeers from the treasury benches, is a question he only has the answer to. If Jagan chooses not to attend, he would have to go to the CBI court in Hyderabad that is due to resume hearing in the cases filed against him on Friday.
(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)
Published On:
Jun 20, 2024
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