Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu is once again in New Delhi and has asked Union home minister Amit Shah for a financial package for the development of the state.
This is Naidu’s second visit to the state capital and comes before the Union budget will be presented on July 23.
“The package was required to help the state reconstruct itself after it was completely devastated by bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and five years of YSR Congress rule,” Naidu was quoted as saying.
Naidu wrote on X after meeting Shah, “Today in New Delhi, I met with Hon’ble Union Home Minister Amit Shah Ji, to apprise him if the devastating condition of finances that Andhra Pradesh had slipped into over the past five years. I also discussed the findings of the four white papers released, outlining the staggering debt accumulated between financial years 2019-24 that spiralled our State’s finances out of control. Economic incompetence, gross mismanagement and rampant corruption by the previous government have caused irreparable damage to our State”.
He informed Amit Shah that he will release another white paper on the state’s finances on Thursday, July 18.
Today in New Delhi, I met with the Hon’ble Union Home Minister, Shri @AmitShah Ji, to apprise him of the devastating condition of finances that Andhra Pradesh had slipped into over the past five years. I also discussed the findings of the four White Papers released, outlining the… pic.twitter.com/xDrcOZR1jO
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) July 16, 2024
By pitching for a special package instead of Special Category Status which was his demand in his previous term as chief minister, Naidu has climbed down on the wish list of the TDP, now that it is a partner in the National Democratic Alliance.
The TDP had quit the NDA alliance in 2018 when he was the CM solely because the BJP-led NDA government had denied special category status to Andhra Pradesh and not implemented the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act which made some concessions to successor states after the bifurcation of the erstwhile Andhra.
Naidu flew to the national capital on the evening of July 16 to discuss the issue with Shah at his Krishna Menon Marg home. He was accompanied by TDP Union ministers K. Rammohan Naidu and Pemmasani Chandrasekhar, TDP parliamentary party leader Lavu Krishnadevarayulu and Andhra finance minister, Payyavula Keshav.
Naidu said central assistance had become inevitable for the state to tide over its critical financial position.
He also urged the Union government to expedite implementation of provisions of the Reorganisation Act and pay special attention to the construction of Amaravati as state capital, along with the Polavaram irrigation project which is sanctioned by the Act. Road infrastructure which was damaged across the state should be repaired.
New national highways, rail routes, a railway zone for Visakhapatnam and industrial corridors in the state were also reportedly on the list.
Naidu’s visit comes after last week’s visit to New Delhi when he called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The Centre then sent a delegation of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited led by its chairman and managing director Gopalan Krishna Kumar to Amaravati to discuss with him the setting up of an oil refinery and petrochemical complex on the vast coastline of the state. The meeting took place within a day of Naidu’s return to the state.
Also read: Chandrababu Naidu Meets BPCL Officials, Paves Way for Long-Awaited Oil Refinery Complex in Andhra
The oil refinery was mandated by the Reorganisation Act “within a period of ten years” from the bifurcation of the state in 2014.
After detailed discussions on the project with an investment of Rs 60,000 to 70,000 crore, the visiting delegation promised to get back to the Andhra government with a detailed feasibility report in October.
Naidu, on his part, had agreed to allot any tract of land when the delegation sought 5,000 acres along the coastline for the oil refinery and petrochemical hub. Three options at Srikakulam, Ramayapatnam and Machilipatnam were discussed for the site. BPCL evinced interest in the last option.
The Union government is almost certain to include the project in the ensuing budget after the BPCL delegation’s visit.
The present relationship between the Union government and Andhra Pradesh marks a sea change since Naidu broke ties with the NDA last time. The BJP had refused to concede the demands of TDP government last time in its 2014-2019 stint because it had 274 members of its own in the 539-member strong Lok Sabha. The BJP could afford to ignore the support of 16 members of TDP then.
But, the scene has changed now though the TDP continues to have 16 members in Lok Sabha. The strength of BJP has dropped to 240, propelling TDP to key partner status.
Though Naidu and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, another top leader who can pull the strings in NDA, have raised the demand of special category status to their respective states after Modi became prime minister third time last month, they have not pressed it aggressively so far.
Also read: Telangana, Andhra Pradesh to Establish Committees to Break Impasse on Unresolved Matters
The Union government had turned down the demand of TDP last time saying the nomenclature was done away with except for hill states and northeastern states. Instead, the Union government had promised funds equivalent to the budget required for special category status, but Naidu rejected the offer.
He then pulled out the two Ministers of TDP from the Union Cabinet and moved a ‘no confidence’ motion against the Modi government. The YSR Congress, the rival of TDP, had moved a separate ‘no confidence’ motion on the same points.
Naidu’s latest visit to New Delhi coincided with the Union government asking the Chief Secretaries of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to reach the capital on July 24 to discuss pending issues of settlement between the two states after bifurcation. Naidu and his Telangana counterpart A. Revanth Reddy had also met in this regard a few days ago.
Incidentally, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kumar has also announced a plan to meet Modi shortly to express his opposition to privatisation of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and a railway zone for Visakhapatnam.
