YSRCP slams TDP for meagre allocations in budget

Vijayawada: YSRCP criticised Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu and TDP-led coalition government for failing to secure funds for Andhra Pradesh despite being a key partner in the NDA.

In a statement released on Tuesday, former finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy pointed that the Union finance minister stated in the budget speech that the Centre will facilitate special financial support through multilateral development agencies. In the current financial year, Rs 15,000 crore is promised to be arranged, with additional amounts in future years.

On bare reading of this, the impression is that this is nothing but considering the Amaravati capital city project as an EAP (externally aided project). There is no specific mention as to what is the loan component and grant component. However, under demand head 42, which deals with transfer to states, the amount allocated for the entire country under the head additional central assistance for externally aided projects is only Rs 8,000 crore. “Hence, we can surmise that only a small portion of the Rs 15,000 crore, if arranged, would be in the form of a grant, the rest would only be a loan,” he said.

He said that the promise of special status for Andhra Pradesh was made by the then Prime Minister in Parliament, but was later diluted. He slammed Chief Minister for welcoming a special financial package instead of special category status and reminded that Andhra Pradesh received the same benefits as other states under the special package, with no additional benefits.

On Polavaram project, Rajendranath Reddy said according to the bifurcation Act, the Central government should have constructed the Polavaram project, but the then TDP government took it into its own hands. The previous YSRCP government had to fight for three years to get the revised project cost estimate of Rs 55,656 crore approved by the Central Water Commission (CWC).

He said the previous government have secured approval for the essential funds for the project and added that It is now TDP’s responsibility to complete the project quickly.