HYDERABAD, Jan 9: Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) leader Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi today showered praise on Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu describing him as a leader with ``vision and representative of a new generation with its eyes focussed on the next century''.Speaking at the fifth biennial convention of Jagatik Marathi Parishad (World Marathi Convention) held here, Pawar who is the president of the Parishad, said that Naidu did not confine information technology to just the industrial sector but also introduced it in administration for effective governance. The Vision-2020 document prepared by Andhra Pradesh government and steps taken to implement it, reflect his (Naidu's) administrative skills as well as political capability, he said.Though the two-day convention was inaugurated by the Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, he left the venue even before Pawar and Joshi began to speak to administer Janmabhoomi oath to participants of massive humanchains formed all over the state.Pawar hoped that the cooperation and goodwill between Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh would continue to grow under Naidu's leadership. Referring to the large number of Telugus residing in Kamatipura in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, the Congress leader said that they played an active role in the overall development of the state.Both Pawar and Joshi addressed the convention in Marathi. Manohar Joshi said that the importance of Information Technology in development has been recognised by Maharashtra and efforts were afoot to create world class human resources in the state.Dwelling at length the welfare schemes being implemented by his government, Joshi said that `1999' has been declared as the Information Technology year in Maharashtra. He said that the High Speed Highway between Mumbai and Pune would be inaugurated by the turn of the century. The work on construction of 50 flyovers in Mumbai, a well planned project expected to save Rs 1,000 crore worth fuel,would be completed in the early 2000 AD, he said.Earlier, Chandrababu Naidu said that though Andhra Pradesh was making rapid strides in the field of Information Technology, Maharashtra still stood as a role model for all the States in respect of development in Agriculture and Industrial sectors. Of the eight lakh Maharashtrians residing in the state, about 2 lakh were concentrated in the twin cities.
