Andhra Pradesh chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, on Monday strove hard to (drive home) the point that the Telugu Desam government had not strayed away from the reforms path.
"No! We haven't given up the reforms path, but only re-oriented the welfare measures in view of unprecedented drought. What we are attempting is reforms with a human face," he said, while inaugurating a two-day collectors conference in Hyderabad.
Naidu made this clarification in the wake of a widespread criticism that he was shifting the focus from reforms to populist measures keeping in mind the ensuing elections.
Early this month, Naidu participating in the biennial meeting of his party at Tirupati announced a string of sops that would cost the government Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion), covering about one crore people in the state.
There was something for every section of the society like farmers, women, minorities, weaker sections, girl students etc. The opposition parties slammed the government's move as a pre-poll exercise.
Reiterating his commitment to reforms, which he had pursued despite stiff opposition in the state, Naidu said it was the duty of the government to protect the interests of the poor, even as it carried forward the reforms process.
In this regard, he flayed the double talk of some political parties which would support reforms while in power and oppose them when in opposition.
"Our model of reforms is aimed at improving efficiency and accountability covering economic, administration, labour and municipalities," he said.
Later, reviewing the progress made by each district, Naidu called upon the collectors to frame a time-bound action for implementing the various welfare measures announced by the government.
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