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While the Centre has sought to clear the air on the special package announced for Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said the people of the State were akin to wounded soldiers who needed support to get over the problems they had been subjected to following bifurcation in 2014.
An ally of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre, the TDP chief said the announcements made by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his colleague M Venkaiah Naidu, seek to formalise various assurances made during the bifurcation.
Speaking to the media about the widespread disenchantment over the Centre’s refusal to grant special category status (SCS), Naidu said, “While I am happy with what has thus far been given and assured by the Centre, including an unprecedented 100 per cent support to the Polavaram project, we will continue to seek Centre’s support for our just demands.”
He said, “The Centre’s support was necessary till AP achieves desired growth and a level-playing field. If all these aspects were discussed before bifurcation, and the nature of support to be extended to State were formalised, we would not have to contend with the situation we are currently in.”
Referring to the Fourteenth Finance Commission and the funding that could come to the State, Naidu said, “It was unfortunate they have failed to understand the difficulties thrust on the people of the State, without any fault of theirs. I visited Delhi 23 times to press for our just demands. All this has resulted in the special package announced the other day.”
However, he said, “It was necessary to understand that building a new capital would require a huge amount (about ₹50,000 crore). And it will take about 20 years to develop a greenfield world-class capital.”
‘Blanket opposition’ Taking on the opposition YSR Congress Party and its leaders YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, he said, “Instead of backing good projects taken up by the government, they have been creating hurdles in implementation of several projects including Pattiseema, Polavaram and development of Amaravati.”
When he was asked why he continued to support the Centre when they have not met all the State’s requirements, Naidu countered, “Will resignations and backing out help resolve [the issue]? Therefore, we will continue to work closely with the Centre and see how best all the assurances made are honoured.”
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