That the United States is keen on developing Vizag as a 'smart city' (whatever that means) should come as good news to its people.

Good news because Naidu as of now is entirely focused on the Guntur-Vijayawada belt (allegedly because his community is in strength there) leaving Vizagites free from the clutches of red -tapism and Naidu’s autocratic policies of land acquisition etc currently in vogue.

Ajmer and Allahabad are the other cities proposed to be developed by the US but they want to start with Vizag first, for obvious reasons.

The geographical location of Vizag which has a natural harbor, its climate, urban environment and infrastructure would ensure smooth facilitation of any activity taken up here.

On the flip side though, Vizag is of paramount importance to India in terms of security and hopefully the government would have taken this aspect into consideration.

Barack Obama is visiting India as a guest for the ‘Republic Day’ and Naidu is trying to get the ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ ready in time for Obama’s visit. That way, the agreement for developing Vizag can be signed during Obama’s visit and Naidu can actually meet Obama in person, something that will add to the former’s image.

While Modi and Amit Shah might not be entirely happy with this outcome, there is little they can do to prevent the meeting after entering into an alliance with the TDP.