YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MPs Tanuja Rani and Gurumoorthy on Tuesday accused Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of reducing governance to ‘credit theft’ by claiming the Bhogapuram greenfield international airport as his administration’s achievement. The MPs argued that the bulk of the airport’s groundwork was executed under former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, and that official records would bear this out.

What YSRCP Alleges

Tanuja Rani said Union Minister Pemmasani Chandrasekhar was speaking ‘irresponsibly’ by attributing the airport’s progress to the current dispensation, noting that he was abroad when the then Jagan Mohan Reddy-led state government executed the Bhogapuram works. She argued he therefore had no moral right to distort the project’s history. Rani challenged the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to a debate in Parliament, asserting that YSRCP would table every official record to back its claims.

Notably, she pointed out that even TDP leaders have acknowledged that 86 per cent of the airport’s construction was completed during Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tenure as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

The Land Acquisition Dispute

MP Gurumoorthy said the runway was built under the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, while TDP leaders were now ‘cutting ribbons and claiming credit.’ He stated that land acquisition, compensation to farmers, statutory approvals, and the removal of legal hurdles were all completed under the previous administration.

“Government records would continue to prove this, irrespective of TDP’s publicity,” Gurumoorthy said.

He alleged that the TDP government had failed to complete land acquisition by 2019. According to him, after YSRCP came to power, land was acquired, farmers were compensated, and the project moved forward with GMR in 2023. He added that farmers and fishermen had earlier approached courts because the previous TDP government had proposed acquiring 15,000 acres, creating widespread apprehension. Those cases were reportedly cleared by 2022.

Gurumoorthy noted that when even London’s Heathrow Airport operates on approximately 3,000 acres, the then Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy questioned why Bhogapuram required 15,000 acres. The project was subsequently rationalised to around 2,700 acres, he said, after which all land-related hurdles were resolved.

Other Demands Raised

Tanuja Rani also questioned the ₹300 crore reportedly spent on International Yoga events, asking what tangible benefit such publicity exercises and Guinness records had delivered to tribal communities.

Gurumoorthy separately demanded government action on rising airfares, declining passenger growth, and what he described as excessive fares burdening pilgrims travelling to Tirupati.

The Broader Political Context

The Bhogapuram airport row is part of a wider pattern of competing credit claims between the TDP-led coalition and YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh, with both sides invoking official records and public statements to establish ownership of flagship infrastructure projects. This is not the first time the two parties have clashed over who deserves recognition for the airport’s progress; similar disputes have played out over the Amaravati capital city project and other state schemes. With the airport approaching completion, the political stakes around its inauguration are expected to intensify.