Vijayawada: The outcome of the meeting between the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Telugu Desam MPs Sujana Chowdary, Rammohan Naidu and Thota Narasinham on Friday has generated curiosity among the national political circles. Though the TD MPs had been to the minister to thank him for the release of Rs 1,400 crore for the Polavaram project, it has been found that they had also urged him to soften the Centre’s stand towards AP. Further, it was learnt that the Union government is likely to announce some more sops to AP after the Parliament sessions.
With the New Delhi political circles viewing this meeting in a different manner, sources close to AP Bhavan suggest that the meeting was a preamble exercise aimed at the restoration of peace between BJP and Telugu Desam, at least with regard to certain issues. They also suggested that Arun Jaitley remained non-committal about this to Sujana Chowdary and his team members. However, neither was the minister reluctant to listen to their proposal.
In the wake of the ongoing heated arguments between the two political parties, this meeting has attained political significance from the floor of the House in AP Assembly, to the BJP headquarters in New Delhi. While the AP government wants to fight with the Union government on a political platform, Arun Jaitley’s office has informed the TD MPs that administrative responsibilities would continue as per routine.
Echoing the same, a senior bureaucrat in the GoAP has stated that generally the administration in New Delhi will perceive matters in a broader view and therefore, all pending dues for the AP project would only be released according to the schedule. “There will be many checks and balances taking place in the Union government,” he said, and added that the delay should not be linked with the ongoing political activities. The bureaucrat, who has experience in New Delhi in various capacities, said that not many departments will have their operational wings elsewhere than New Delhi.
