CM wants to market state as 'Kohinoor of India'

HYDERABAD: The techno-savvy chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who likes to be called the Chief Executive Officer of Andhra Pradesh, now has a new slogan for the state. ‘Discover Andhra Pradesh — The Kohinoor of India’.
Taking his commitment in declaring the state as well as the city a “heritage city�, Naidu, it was learnt, wanted a crisp and catchy sentence which would attract the attention of the world towards Andhra Pradesh.“We are progressing well as far as information technology, bio-technology and health are concerned. But we do not want to destroy our heritage nor do we want people to forget it. In fact we want more and more people to know about it,� tourism minister T Srinivas Yadav told The Times of India. And there could be no better name for the state than Kohinoor — the mountain of light. Kohinoor, the largest diamond of the world, was mined in the very heart of the city — at Golconda, in Andhra Pradesh, he said.
The new catch phrase of ‘Discover Andhra Pradesh — The Kohinoor of India’, would now be displayed prominently at all major events in the city and the state as well as at various tourism projects.
The new phrase was printed prominently on all invitations for the inaugural of the All India Arts Crafts Mela that was inaugurated at Shilparamam on Sunday.
Kohinoor is a name that anybody can recognise. It is also a name which is famous across the globe. “The state government wants to promote the state as a place where heritage and development walk hand-in-hand,� Srinivasa Yadav pointed out.
Explaining the link between Kohinoor and Andhra Pradesh, Srinivasa Yadav said both — Kohinoor and the state are “precious jewels� and the government is leaving no ‘stone’ unturned in declaring this to the world. “A name like Kohinoor would attract the attention of people across the world and that is what is needed to promote tourism,� he added.
Apart from this, Kohinoor is a jewel and the mines of Golconda were once known to produce the largest precious stones of the world. Almost all of the precious stones that make up the Nizam’s jewels also came from the Golconda mines.
“The state government is also trying to bring the Nizam’s jewels to the city,� he said.