The people of Andhra Pradesh are wounded and if they are not given justice it will be painful Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Saturday NDTV reported.Naidu s Telugu Desam Party the BJP s only ally in the south has been at odds with the Centre since February 1 alleging that the Union Budget did not allocate enough to Andhra Pradesh. On February 12 the party called the Centre s 27-page status report on aid given to the state a cinema script or fiction document . All through the first half of Parliament s Budget Session TDP leaders also protested inside the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha over the issue. The party s main demand is that the Centre grants the state the Special Category status which will bring in large amounts of central funds as aid.On Saturday Naidu told NDTV at a summit organised by The Hindu in Bengaluru that he came to Delhi 29 times to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers but the centre s promises for financial support for the state have still not been met.Referring to how the Congress lost power as the people were angry with its decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh Naidu said the people punished the party that has done injustice for them in a democratic way . So what I am asking today Government of India is if you won t do justice the already wounded soldiers (of Andhra Pradesh) if you touch them it will be very painful. When there is a wound if you touch them also it will be more pain he said.While Naidu did not directly answer a question about parting ways with the National Democratic Alliance he pointed to his party colleague in the audience Union Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and said He is still in the cabinet. He said the state was only demanding what should be given to us The Hindu reported. Ours is an agrarian State without a big urban centre and we fall short by Rs 30 000 to the average per capita income in the rest of the country.
VIJAYAWADA: Irked over the lack of allocation for Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget chief minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu has convened an emergency meeting of the party on Friday to take a call on whether to continue with the TDP-BJP alliance both at the Centre and in the state. Soon after the presentation of the Budget on Thursday Naidu conducted a teleconference with party leaders as well as TDP MPs in Delhi and convened a meeting of the TDP parliamentary board on Sunday. The allocations are very dissatisfactory and it is for BJP to explain how it will address this. In the meantime we will take the message to the people as to how AP was completely ignored in the Budget was Naidu s message to TDP leaders. Sources said several ministers and MPs told Naidu that the injustice can be answered only by severing ties with BJP. However Naidu advocated restrain for the time being and suggested that they wait for the Budget session to end before taking any decision. However by the evening he convened meetings on Friday and on Sunday as the disappointment over the treatment meted out to AP in the Budget was wide and deep said sources. In the evening Naidu met ministers and pointed out the railway projects sanctioned for Maharashtra. It is very disappointing he is said to have remarked. If this is the situation we will have to rethink the alliance said spokesperson Jupudi Prabhakar Rao. The chief minister is unhappy. We expected funds for AP but the Budget ignored the revenue deficit state and instead favoured developed cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru said agriculture minister Somireddi Chandramohan Reddy.
NEW DELHI: BJP is making all efforts to reason with ally TDP on its various demands for Andhra Pradesh with PM Modi keeping a tab on the developments. But chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is not satisfied with the assurances and his MPs have threatened to walk out of NDA if the demands are not met. Modi has given the responsibility of placating TDP chief to BJP president Amit Shah and FM Arun Jaitley. He has also promised TDP leaders that he will get in touch with Naidu to sort out the issues sources said. Last week saw hectic activities from both sides with TDP protesting in Parliament and near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the premises. TDP MPs raised slogans and displayed placards in the Well of the House. YSRCP and some Congress MPs from Andhra too protested to press for giving more funds to Andhra Pradesh. The Andhra CM was away in the UAE last week but soon after he returned on Friday he got a call from Shah. Modi is likely to speak to Naidu after he returns from the four-nation tour. Modi has asked Shah and Jaitley to mediate. The FM gave some assurances in his reply to the budget debate in both the Houses but this hasn t satisfied TDP. The two BJP leaders are likely to hold discussions with TDP leaders this week. Naidu has had his way with the Centre during the Deve Gowda and AB Vajpayee governments but does not have much bargaining power with the present dispensation as BJP has a clear majority in the Lok Sabha. TDP is bargaining hard and protesting aggressively to get more funds for building the new Andhra capital in Amravati the Polavaram project and a new railway zone at Vishakapatnam. Naidu should realise that he can get more from Modi by discussing the issues. The prime minister is not the type who will yield under pressure a senior BJP leader said. Another senior BJP leader said the Centre found that Naidu has waived some farmer loans and incurred other expenditure but is demanding reimbursement from the NDA government for them. Pandering to his request will lead to a flood of similar requests from other states including those ruled by BJP a situation the Centre does not want to get into. BJP leaders are aware that TDP may finally pull out of NDA though after a few months and closer to the elections assembly polls in Andhra will be held along with the Lok Sabha polls early next year. This may help TDP pin the blame for not doing enough for AP on the Centre s non-cooperation .
Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed that the Narendra Modi-led NDA government has done maximum for Andhra Pradesh the state has refused to relent. Reports have indicated that chief minister and Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu instructed his partymen to keep up pressure on BJP till justice is done to the state. Naidu s unwillingness to relent to BJP s overtures is not without reason. The sentiments in the state are so strong that the perceived injustice is the spotlight of the day. Here s why: 1. The Government of India is supposed to compensate for the revenue deficit as the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh lost capital city Hyderabad to Telangana. This city accounted for the lion s share of the combined state income. The revenue deficit was initially estimated at Rs 16 700 crore. The amount was later revised by the Centre to Rs 7 500 crore and the central government only paid Rs 3 977 crore. While the Andhra government claims that the revenue deficit to be paid by the Centre is Rs 12 500 crore the Centre claims that the due in this regard is merely Rs 138 crore. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told Parliament that the central officials are discussing the issue with the state officials to arrive at a consensus on how much should be paid to the state in this regard. But nothing seems to be materialising much to the chagrin of Naidu administration. The state government meanwhile. has proposed that the Centre may appoint a committee headed by none other than the former IAS officer YV Reddy to settle the dispute. However a senior functionary in the state government who is in the knowledge of things told Firstpost that the Centre is not forthcoming in this regard. File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. PTI 2. The re-organisation of the state was strongly opposed by the people of Seemandhra who now constitute the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh. But as the then UPA government took a political decision to bifurcate the state special category status was promised to Andhra Pradesh to assuage the feelings of the people of the state. Thus the bifurcation of the state was predicated upon the assurance by the then prime minister on the floor of the House and the two cannot be separated. In fact the BJP has been demanding special status for ten years. However the UPA government conceded to this demand and agreed to grant such a status to Andhra Pradesh for a period of only five years. Despite the fact that senior BJP leaders like M Venkaiah Naidu and Jaitley were the authors of special status the Narendra Modi government has refused to grant special status to Andhra on the pretext that the concept of special status seizes to exist with the new devolution formula proposed by the 14th Finance Commission. However the NDA government promised special package in lieu of specials status. As per this it was promised that the Centre would fund to the tune of 90 percent in regard to centrally funded schemes. Thus the additional central grant is arrived at Rs 16 447 crore. The Centre proposed to compensate this through higher central component in Externally Aided Projects (EAPs). But the execution of such projects would take time. Therefore the state preferred direct fiscal transfers. As half of the 14th Finance Commission period was already over the state government desired 50 percent of payment. But the state government also argued that the Centre has hardly paid Rs 400 crore. 3. The State Reorganisation Act promised railway zone for Visakhapatnam. But even this decision is inordinately delayed as Odisha seems to be not in favour of it as it would lose the earning centre like Vishakhapatnam. Though the Centre is not making it explicit it is clear from even a cursory look that the BJP due to its political stakes in neighbouring Odisha is dragging its feet on implementing the provisions of an act passed by Parliament. The argument that the Vizag railway zone will be unviable is fallacious as Vijayawada and Guntakal will be added to Vizag zone once it is separated. When Ram Vilas Paswan could ensure railway zone for Hajipur and it is viable why can t Visakhapatnam opined leaders from Andhra. 4.The reorganisation act has also promised to set up a steel plant in the backward Rayalaseema district of Kadapa. The district has iron ore mines. The state government has even offered to give these mines as captive mines for the proposed steel plant on free of cost basis as the quality of the ore is low grade. This offer of the state government would make the proposed steel plant viable as raw material itself accounts for 50 percent of cost of production. While the private steel plants of Tatas Jindals etc. have been allotted captive mines by the government of India the public sector Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is denied such captive mines forcing the plant to incur losses. Inflicting further insult on the state now the Centre is not coming forward to set up Kadapa steel plant despite state reorganisation act recommending it. 5. As per the act the Polavaram project will be taken up as the national project and the Centre would bear the expenses. But due to inordinate delay in clearing the bills the state government is incurring an interest burden of Rs 300 crore. To avoid this the state urges the Centre to create a revolving fund but to of no avail. 6. As per the reorganisation act the centre has agreed to provide funds for the development of necessary infrastructure in seven backward districts of Rayalaseema and North Coastal Andhra. So far only Rs 1 050 crore were released at the rate of Rs 150 crore per district. What kind of infrastructure can be created with this meagre funding only centre should know. 7. The reorganisation act also mandates Centre to fund the construction of a green field capital at Amravati for the state of Andhra Pradesh as the existing capital of Hyderabad became the capital of Telangana. However no specific resources were mentioned in the act. Taking advantage of this the NDA government has granted only Rs 1 500 crore so far. The fact that the underground drainage works taken up in Vijayawada and Guntur were also included in this head on the pretext that these two cities also fall in the capital region has further infuriated the state. 8. The centre has to set up Dugarajapatnam Port in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. But the construction encountered certain objections as sensitive ecosystem of Pulicat Lake and the satellite launching station ISRO of Sriharikota are very near to Dugarajapatnam. But the centre neither addresses these hurdles nor propose an alternate place. 9. Andhra Pradesh should also get a petroleum refinery and cracking unit as per the bifurcation package. But the HPCL-GAIL consortium is reportedly seeking a viability gap funding of Rs 1 200 crore per year for a period of 15 years from the state government. The state feels this is unfair as it is the assurance of state bifurcation and any such viability gap funding should come from the centre itself. 10. To implement the state reorganisation act centre has already setup several educational institutions in the state. But the flow of funds is tardy and the these institutions are yet to take off in any significant manner. Andhra feels that is has been let down. Neither the provisions of state reorganisation act nor the promises made therein and thereafter have been fully implemented leaving no other option for the state but to protest. The author is a former MLC from Telangana and currently teaches journalism at the Osmania University
The rift between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) seems to be widening further with the latter expressing displeasure over the allocation given to Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu asking party MPs to keep pressuring the government to demand a substantative announcement for the state media reports said. Naidu currently in Dubai called an emergency teleconference meeting with TDP MPs late on Thursday and said that the Centre was behaving in such a way that it was making people of Andhra Pradesh feel that they were not part of the nation said a report in The Times of India. During the conference some of the TDP MPs told Naidu that the party should keep up the tough stance towards the Centre. Naidu told us to protest in a serious way. The chef minister expressed unhappiness over the response from the Centre over the last 3-4 days Thota Narasimham TDP floor leader in the Lok Sabha was quoted as saying in the report. File image of Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. AFP Naidu also told the MPs that he will conduct another round of teleconferencing with them on Friday according to a report in Deccan Chronicle. Naidu according to India Today has also said that a crucial decision regarding the alliance will be taken in a couple of days. Special package to Andhra Pradesh Naidu s teleconference came hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday said that the Centre was sympathetically working on all issues concerning Andhra Pradesh and a decision on a special package would be finalised over next few days. Jaitley who was replying to a debate on the general Budget in the Lok Sabha told agitating members from Andhra Pradesh including those from the TDP that a package was promised to the people of Andhra Pradesh after Telangana was carved out of it and while several parts of the package had been implemented some work was being done. Cracks in TDP-BJP alliance Unhappy with Jaitley s statement in Parliament and claiming inadequate allocation of funds to Andhra Pradesh Naidu on Thursday reportedly told the TDP MPs that the state was being given step-motherly treatment by the Centre. TDP BJP s biggest ally in the South earlier expressed disappointment over Jaitley s Budget that it said did not address the state s needs. Since the last few weeks there has been a strong mood among TDP leaders to break away from the alliance with the BJP. Some senior TDP leaders on 2 February said off the record that almost everyone including many district unit chiefs wanted the party to end the alliance. Naidu has also reportedly expressed serious displeasure over the Union Budget and wondered why the Centre ignored the state. Naidu s dilemma Naidu and the TDP have repeatedly shifted their stance on the alliance with BJP in the last few days. On 2 February Naidu apparently dissuaded his senior party colleagues from speaking about the fate of the alliance with BJP. Two days later the TDP said its alliance with BJP in Andhra Pradesh and the Centre was very much alive. As and when it is required the chief minister and party chief will take the decision. As of today it (the alliance) is just going on. We never said (about snapping ties)...it s all speculation TDP leader and Union minister Y Satyanarayana Chowdary was quoted as saying by PTI on 4 February. Three days later launching a scathing attack on the government TDP gave the Centre an ultimatum. The party even hinted that if the demands were not met the TDP would leave the alliance. We have maintained the alliance dharma for five budgets. This is the final chance to fulfil your promises and assurances. It is now or never. We understand you have numbers (of MPs) to render us irrelevant but elections are fast approaching (and) based on current trends the coming (2019) elections may be challenging TDP MP Jayadev Galla was quoted as saying by IANS. With inputs from agencies
Amaravati: Amid reports of a strain in ties between the BJP and the TDP Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Wednesday that it is a problem between the two governments which is to be resolved in Parliament and not on the streets.He also asked the Centre to spell out a plan of action for the state with clear timelines.The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had earlier publicly voiced unhappiness over the recent Union budget not offering any special benefits to Andhra Pradesh. This is a problem between two governments (the Centre and the state). This is a problem on which we have to fight in Parliament and not on the streets Mr Naidu told his party MPs legislators and senior leaders in a teleconference.He demanded that a special discussion for two hours be taken up in Parliament to debate all issues related to the bifurcation (of AP) and review the implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014. The implementation of promises made in the Rajya Sabha by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the special economic package announced by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (in September 2016) should also be reviewed he said. The Centre should clearly spell out what it has done for the state in the last four years and what it will do now. It should announce a plan of action with clear timelines Mr Naidu said.On Mr Jaitley s statement in the Rajya Sabha yesterday over Andhra Pradesh s revenue deficit and assistance under externally-aided projects Mr Naidu asked What is this new formula (for bridging the revenue deficit) now? When no formula was applied to divide the state why a new formula now to help the distressed state? he asked. It is not correct to refer only to the funding from the National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (NABARD) when we sought an assistance from Hudco and other agencies as well under employee assistance programmes (EAP) he added.Mr Naidu directed the TDP MPs to continue the din in Parliament even if you get suspended . We have converted the problems of AP into a national agenda. The injustice done to AP has become a point of debate across the country. We now have to go ahead rationally and secure our rights the TDP chief said.Since it was the previous (UPA) government at the Centre that committed the mistake the onus was now on the current (NDA) government to rectify it he said.Notably amid an unease in its ties with the BJP a delegation of TDP MPs including Union ministers Ashok Gajapathi Raju and YS Chowdary had met Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday. CommentsClose X The leaders of the two parties said the meeting was an attempt to address the strain in ties after the TDP expressed unhappiness over the Union budget not offering any special benefits to Andhra Pradesh.Prior to it Mr Chowdary had played down speculation that the TDP will break its alliance with the BJP.
By: PTI | Amaravati | Published: January 27 2018 9:56 pm Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu. (Express Photo by Nirmal Harindran) Related News N. Chandrababu Naidu: Andhra doesn t need anyone s benevolenceChandrababu Naidu dismisses demand for no-trust motion against Modi govtIrked with Budget Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu demands justice from PM ModiAndhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday without taking names hit out at NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar over the latter s comments on the state saying some people are speaking without any understanding of the state s woes. Some people are asking why we (AP) need hand-holding when we are registering the highest economic growth. They are speaking without any understanding. This is not correct Naidu said at a press conference here this afternoon without taking any names. During his recent visit to the state the NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman had made certain observations on AP s economic growth and had opined that the state with your 11 per cent and 15 per cent (economic growth rate) you will soon not need any hand-holding. Kumar had said Yes we will do whatever hand-holding we can. But I am sure one that with your 11 per cent and 15 per cent (economic growth) you will soon not need any hand-holding. Naidu speaking on Saturday said Yes we have a double digit (economic) growth rate. Our growth is the highest in the country but our per capita income is still low. Extending hand-holding support is the Centre s responsibility. Naidu further said Isn t there a need for the Centre to compensate us (for the financial woes caused by the state s bifurcation)? That s what I am asking. Straight question. It is our right. I am very clear on that. He said they had only been requesting the Centre to correct the injustice done to AP on account of bifurcation adding that he had given all the figures to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their meeting on January 12. I explained that despite the highest growth rate our per http://www.dannychoo.com/en/profile/kkpigeon capita income is still the lowest. We are Rs 35 000 to Rs 40 000 less than others. I asked him why you will not give us hand-holding support Naidu said. The Prime Minister he added promised to get everything examined and also personally look into the issue and correct things . We have to wait (for the outcome) Naidu said. Naidu responding to a question on the BJP s demand for appointment of a Governor exclusively for AP said there was no need for a controversy on it. It is not correct to speak on some institutions. Some people talk politics but I remain dignified. It is not correct to speak frequently and on the streets about persons holding honourable positions he said. BJP state president and MP K Haribabu recently wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh requesting that an exclusive Governor be appointed for AP in place of E S L Narasimhan who has been holding charge of both AP and Telangana since June 2 2014. The BJP s floor leader in the Assembly P Vishnu Kumar Raju even criticized the Governor for being biased against AP . For all the latest India News download Indian Express App More Related News TDP and friends Union Budget 2018: Ally TDP says disappointed Andhra Pradesh CM convenes party meeting Tags: Chandrababu Naidu No Comments.
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