Chandrababu Naidu getting ready to expose NDA govt

Hyderabad: In what will be his first face-off with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he parted ways with the BJP, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is learnt to be anxious to strip the NDA of its veneer that it was ensuring level-playing field for all states which are on the road to development, when he addresses a meeting of Niti Aayog scheduled at New Delhi on June 16.

The meeting is taking place after Naidu bid farewell to the BJP and pulled out of the NDA government, unable to bear the humiliation any longer of being at the receiving end, hoping interminably for “achche din” which never arrived even after four years have gone into oblivion.

Now that there is no love lost between him and Modi, Naidu is expected to give a blow-by-blow account of how the people of the state had been taken for a ride after the Centre promised the moon in the form of special category status and later changed it to package and finally delivered nothing.

Naidu is also expected to raise another sentimental issue for the people of the state – Visakhapatnam Railway Zone -- which appeared so near but always remained so far. In fact, honouring the promise of railway zone made in the AP State Reorganisation Act, would be like the BJP government doing a favour to itself since it was on this slogan that K Haribabu won the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat on BJP ticket.

According to an official who will be presenting points to the Chief Minister on which he could address the meeting, Naidu wants to utilise the occasion to explain how AP had suffered in the hands of the Centre, with money being released in fits and starts for the crucial Polavaram Project on which he had pinned all his hopes, lack of support for the construction of Amaravati and finally the reluctance to bridge the revenue deficit to the satisfaction of the state.

“As there is still time for the meeting, we have not yet made a thorough exercise on the points that Naidu should raise at the meeting, but in all likelihood, he might tear into the way the centre was treating the states which needed handholding badly. I am sure the Chief Minister will utilise the occasion to the maximum on how the Centre had diluted the promise of special category status to special package and to finally to nothing,” the official said.

The official said it is not yet clear if Naidu would seek a private audience with the Prime Minister at the venue. Unless Naidu asks, the officials would not consider providing a slot for him.  “Indications are that he may not seek any interview,” he said, pointing out: “We will soon be having a meeting with the Chief Minister and then we will know for sure, the focus areas.  Then we can prime the Chief Minister with relevant data,” he said.