Chandrababu Naidu to PM Narendra Modi: Fulfil promises made to Andhra Pradesh
New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister designate N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday demanded that the residuary state be accorded special category status and all assurances that were given by the previous government, including tax incentives and special financial package, be implemented immediately.
During a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Naidu told him that it was the responsibility of the Union government to ensure that the Seemandhra state develops quickly and be on par with other states.
He demanded that all the assurances given by his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh be implemented.
Mr Naidu met Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati and demanded that the new state gets 30 tmc ft water so that the water needs of the state can be taken care of. He reiterated the demand with Mr Modi as well.
Briefing reporters late on Friday after back-to-back meeting through the day, the TD chief said, “The UPA government had given three promises, tax incentives for the new state for industries, special category status for the purpose of central grants and special package for the Rayalaseema and north coastal Andhra districts.”
He demanded that the promises be implemented immediately without any delay as there needs to be a ‘level-playing field” for all states.
“I have asked the PM and all the ministers whom I met today that they need to work on all these promises and people of Seemandhra should be given full justice. Telangana has surplus budget but
Seemandhra has become a budget deficit state,” he said.
On the Polavaram project, the Chief Minister designate asked both Mr Modi and Ms Bharati to ensure that the project is completed without any delay.
In this regard, he also asked TRS chief KCR not to make unnecessary statement on the Polavaram project and the ordinance that has been issued to merge 230 villages from Telangana to Seemandhra.
“The ordinance was cleared by the UPA. Why did not he raise his voice then?" he asked.
During his meeting with Ms Bharati, the TDP chief demanded that Krishna and Godavari River Councils be constituted immediately so that problems do not arise after the state gets bifurcated.
“I demanded that 30 tmcft of water needs to be released for the new state," he said.
Mr Naidu also said he requested Mr Modi to constitute a separate cell in the PMO to oversee projects related to bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and ensure that justice is done to Seemandhra.
During his meeting with HRD Minister Smriti Irani, he demanded that NITs, IITs and IIMs be set up in the new state as per the promises given by the previous Government. Mr Naidu also met home Minister Rajnath Singh, Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Finance Minister Arun Jaitely.
“The Centre has promised to fulfill all commitments made to Seemandhra. We have already started working," Jaitley told reporters after meeting Naidu.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan also met Mr Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh and discussed the bifurcation process. Mr Singh asked Mr Narasimhan to ensure law and order in both states, as he will be the common governor.
