With Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the Bhogapuram International Airport, the political battle over who deserves credit has returned.
The NDA argues that the project was largely ready before 2019. It says Chandrababu Naidu secured approvals, acquired most of the land and laid the foundation stone. According to Union Minister Pemmasani Chandrasekhar, the Jagan government delayed the airport by cancelling the original tender and restarting the bidding process.
There is some weight to that argument. After coming to power, the YSRCP government reviewed the project, cancelled the earlier tender citing alleged irregularities and invited fresh bids. Ironically, GMR, the same company selected earlier, emerged as the successful bidder once again.
That naturally raises a question. If the outcome remained the same, was the time lost worth it?
YSRCP, however, has a different claim. The party says it completed the remaining land acquisition, signed the revised concession agreement and oversaw the construction phase. Without those decisions, it argues, the airport would not have become a reality.
The truth is that both governments played a role. Chandrababu’s administration set the project in motion, while Jagan’s government carried it through an important phase of implementation.
The real political debate is not whether YSRCP contributed. It is whether restarting the tender process was necessary or whether it cost North Andhra several valuable years.
That debate will continue. For the people of North Andhra, however, the bigger question is no longer who built the airport. It is whether Bhogapuram can now deliver the investments, industries, tourism and jobs that the region has been waiting for.
