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Never compromised AP’s interests: Naidu to Opposition
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said that the Government of Andhra Pradesh would take whatever the Centre would give and will demand for other issues which were not part of the special package.
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said that the Government of Andhra Pradesh would take whatever the Centre would give and will demand for other issues which were not part of the special package.
Making a statement in the Legislative Council on the special package announced by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on Wednesday night, Naidu said the opposition parties in the state were targeting the government. The opposition was alleging that he had compromised on the Special Category Status (SCS) that was promised by the then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on the floor of Parliament.
Naidu refuted the allegations leveled against him and his government of compromising and diluting the demand for special status to the state. He said he had never compromised with regard to protecting the interests of the state at any point of time in his political career.
The TDP, he said, had entered into a pact with the BJP since the state was pushed into a state of crisis following bifurcation of the state. People had reposed faith in him and during last two years he has been making sincere efforts in mounting pressure on the Centre to grant special status.
He said even on Wednesday when the Centre was making an exercise to announce a package he had time and again reiterated the need for special status and explained to them how it had become an emotive issue. In fact, the Centre had to come up with the special package because of his continuous pressure on it.
He said he had told the Prime Minister that people were losing faith in the Centre as well and were becoming restless. This made the Centre to come up with the package, Naidu said. The Chief Minister said the Centre has agreed to reimburse 100 per cent of the expenditure incurred on the Polavaram project.
He said some leaders, including opposition leader C Ramachandraiah were questioning the need for state to take up construction of Polavaram project. He said it was the NITI Aayog which had recommended that the state should execute the project if it were to be completed at a fast pace.
He said the project would have been in limbo even now if he had not insisted on merger of seven mandals under Polavaram with Andhra Pradesh. Naidu said the government was keen to complete the project by 2018 and if the Centre was ready to do so, he had no objection to hand it over to them.
Referring to the resource gap, he said it was met partly by the Centre. So far Rs 3,979 crore has been already paid and the balance would be paid in annual installments, he said.
Similarly, for capital construction Rs 1,500 crore has been given to the state. Another Rs 1,000 crore would be released in due course. As far as the infrastructure support was concerned, an assistance of Rs 1,000 crore has been provided, the Chief Minister said.
