‘Stop fighting over credit; it belongs to GMR’

Amid the continuing political battle between the TDP and YSRCP over who deserves credit for the Bhogapuram airport, retired IPS officer A.B. Venkateswara Rao offered a sharply different assessment, arguing that neither party could claim exclusive ownership of the project. In a lengthy social media post titled “Who Gets the Credit for Bhogapuram?”, he said the real credit should go to GMR, which ultimately developed the airport.

Tracing the project’s history, Venkateswara Rao said the earlier TDP government initially proposed acquisition of around 5,000 acres, triggering opposition from affected landowners and political parties before the requirement was subsequently reduced. He claimed that although the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had emerged successful in an earlier bidding process, that process was cancelled and tender conditions were subsequently changed before the project was awarded to GMR.

Turning to the YSRCP period, he alleged that the project initially faced delays after the change of government before construction gathered momentum in 2023. Following the return of the NDA government, Union Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu closely followed the project and efforts were made to accelerate connectivity and associated infrastructure, he said.

Venkateswara Rao questioned attempts by political parties to appropriate the entire project and asked people to examine its chronology before deciding who deserved credit. He also contrasted the attention given to Bhogapuram with the development of Vijayawada airport, questioning why the latter had still not secured stronger regular international connectivity.