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Naidu spends millions on Clinton's comfort

George Iype in Hyderabad

Rupees 80 million for a visit that lasts just 165 minutes!

As he readies the Charminar City for a red carpet welcome to United States President Bill Clinton, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has come under flak for spending lavishly. Left parties, women's groups and social activists have taken to the streets attacking the chief minister for "misusing" the state exchequer in the name of a "touch and fly" State visit.

Naidu himself is upset that his month-long preparation for Clinton has gone awry as the US president's itinerary in Hyderabad is less than three hours. The unhappiness is more due to the fact that he has been denied a one-to-one meeting with the president than the truncation of the visit.

Two weeks ago Naidu had personally met the leader of the White House advance team, Dan Rosenthal, and proposed an exclusive audience with Clinton to apprise the US president of his Vision 2020 programme, and the progress made by Andhra Pradesh on information technology and poverty alleviation. But US officials refused to entertain Naidu's demand saying the American president's tight schedule made it impossible.

Naidu will now receive Clinton at the airport along with Governor C Rangarajan and Director General of Police H J Dora. He will accompany the president to the Hi-Tec City and Shilparamam, and then see him off at the airport.

Officials said Naidu is disappointed with the schedule of the US president. "It is really sad that the chief minister's proposal for a one-to-one meeting has been rejected by the Clinton team and his itinerary to the city has been considerably shrunk," an official in the task force that is preparing to welcome Clinton said.

Officials suspect that it is the ministry of external affairs that has torpedoed Naidu's proposal. "The MEA and the Central government cannot digest the idea of a state chief minister personally meeting with the American president," an official commented.

Naidu, his council of ministers and state officials, for their part, are infected with Clintonmania. Roads have become spic and span. No garbage can be seen on the streets. The municipal drains no longer spring leaks. Unfinished flyovers are being covered with green shrouds so that they would look like greenery in the city when the president passes through. Beggars are off the roads. And everywhere there are billboards welcoming Bill.

Officials said the state government has spent approximately Rs 80 million on the visit.

"One good thing about Naidu is that he brings at least one foreign dignitary to the city every month that Hyderabad's roads undergo re-tarring and painting often," says Suman Reddy, a computer engineer.

"But I feel spending so much money for Clinton's three hours in the city is too much. But no chief minister can defeat Naidu in style and extravagant display," Reddy adds.

At Shilparamam, the crafts village where Clinton was supposed to stop by for exactly 10 minutes, an air conditioned cottage was built at a cost of over Rs 1 million. The handloom weavers of the village had sought an audience with Clinton and daughter Chelsea because they wanted to present the latter with some readymade dresses and handloom fabric. But Clinton is now unlikely to visit Shilparamam.

State government officials said they have already spent considerable time and money on sprucing up tourist spots such as Charminar, Golconda and Shilparamam. The government has also been readying a few villages near Hyderabad which were to be shown to the US president as model AP villages.

But the hype has left the Left parties and social activists in Andhra Pradesh livid. "Naidu is behaving and spending like the US president. He has forgotten that he belongs to a poor state where people in villages are hungry and illiterate," Communist Party of India leader Sukumar Reddy said.

Thus, the main Left parties - the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist and Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist -- and hoards of social groups will hold a "Chalo Hyderabad" march when Clinton's special DC-9 aircraft touches the city on March 24 afternoon.

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