DRIVE TO SURVIVE

The discreet charm of Chandrababu Naidu

- SUJATHA SIVAGNANAM

THE VILLAGE OF UDDANDARAYUNIPALEM, in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district, was abuzz with activity on 22 October 2015. It was Vijaya Dashami, but a far more momentous celebration was being planned. After all, it was not every day that a new state capital was born. Nara Chandrababu Naidu, who had begun his third term as chief minister soon after the state was bifurcated, the previous year, had been adamant about replacing Hyderabad, which was now part of Telangana, with a greenfield city on the banks of the Krishna River, called Amaravati, or “the abode of the immortals.”

Having presided over the bhoomi puja—a Hindu ritual for breaking new ground—four months earlier, Naidu wanted the foundation ceremony to be a grand event, in order to attract investment for the project, which was expected to cost almost a trillion rupees. “Other states have been divided and built new capitals, such as Naya Raipur, Dehradun or Ranchi, but has any of their foundation ceremonies become international events like Amaravati?” he told The Hindu. “You cannot attract investments without investing in relationships. Once relationships are built, automatically investments will come.”