Andhra minister rues erosion of ethics

Dubai: Konijeti Rosaiah, 72, belongs to the first generation of politicians of post-Independence India.

In a career spanning 46 years, he has held key portfolios in the ministries of chief ministers M. Channa Reddy, T. Anjaiah, K. Vijayabhaskara Reddy and N. Janardhana Reddy.

A financial taskmaster, the septuagenarian Congressman reels out figures off hand. It is said he is so adept that even if he bungles no one else may detect it.

Rosaiah, who holds the Finance and Health portfolios in the Andhra Pradesh Government, is in the UAE for the golden jubilee celebrations of the formation of Andhra Pradesh.

Reflecting on the half a century since the south Indian state was formed, the astute politician lamented the falling ethical standards in politics in the light of various scandals that have come to light in recent weeks.

Gulf News met him in Dubai on Wednesday.

Excerpts from the interview:

Gulf News: You have always been a No 2 in the state Cabinet under several chief ministers. Don't you aspire to become No 1 in future?

Rosaiah: I have never tried or aspired to become No 1 [chief minister]. To become chief minister, one has to have a mass base. Now, only Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has such charisma. Moreover, I belong to the old school of politicians who believe in serving the people.

But is that breed not almost extinct now?

Unfortunately, it is true. I know, when I was a member of the Lok Sabha, there were several MPs who resorted to blackmailing others by way of exposing them in the House.

This cash for questions scandal is nothing new. Such people are a slur on democracy.

They are proving true the adage 'Politics is the last refuge of the scoundrel'.

Andhra Pradesh has been in the forefront in power reforms. How has it been achieved?

Andhra Pradesh was rated by Crisil as No. 1 in India during 2004-05 for its reforms in the power sector despite providing free power to small farmers.

We achieved this by cutting our losses by reducing energy theft. We have expanded line distribution and enhanced transformer capacity. We are now planning to put in place HVDS [high voltage tension line distribution] at a cost of Rs 50 billion (Dh4.06 billion).

In the 19 months since we came to power, our government has not increased the power tariff even by a single paisa. On the contrary, we reduced the tariff by 4.1 per cent to industries to attract investments in the state.

What is the government doing to promote industrial growth in the state?

There has been a notion that the Chandrababu Naidu government was pro-IT and the Congress government's stress is on agriculture. But we have proved that that impression is wrong.

We are setting up Knowledge Parks with a view to encouraging investments in the state. These are coming up not just in the state capital Hyderabad but also in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

Any new irrigation projects being taken up?

Irrigation is among one of our priorities. We have taken up 22 new irrigation projects apart from seven major ongoing projects at an estimated Rs460 billion (Dh37.36 billion). These will be executed on EPC [engineering, procurement and commencement] basis thus cutting down cost escalation.

Andhra Pradesh has the dubious distinction of topping the nation in Aids prevalence. What steps are being to taken to tackle this scourge?

Until recently Andhra Pradesh was No 2 in India in this regard. Unfortunately it has gone to No 1 position. This can be tackled by awareness programmes. There are some examples in Africa where they have controlled it effectively while some who neglected it have gone up from 2 per cent to 28 per cent prevalence.

Konijeti Rosaiah

Born: July 4, 1933 at Vemuru in Guntur district.

Politics: First elected to Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council in 1968.

Ministry: First became a minister [Transport, Roads and Buildings) in Marri Channa Reddy Cabinet in 1979.

Key portfolio: Held Finance Ministry portfolio in 1989 after Congress defeated N.T. Rama Rao's Telugu Desam and held the portfolio though three chief ministers were changed in the next five years.