Chandrababu Naidu remains cold to Jaitley moves

Amaravati: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu remained unmoved when Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called him for talks on Friday on issues the TDP MPs have been staging protests and even moved notices for confidence motion against the Centre.

Naidu, who has been in touch with MPs almost throughout the day, told them that Arun Jaitley tried to reach out to him, probably as part of BJP’s attempt to start a dialogue with the Opposition parties to ensure that proceedings in both the House of Parliament would go without any problem.

For the last three weeks, the proceedings were washed away in both the Houses and for the first time even Finance Bill was passed without any discussion on it. When Jaitely called, Naidu did not yield any ground and stuck to his guns over the way the BJP had handled the state all along.

Later Naidu, interacting with his MPs over teleconference, told them to be cautious when they meet the central ministers in Parliament lobbies. “Do not let any impression gain ground that we are moving closer to the BJP. We’re now out of NDA and we are moving no-trust motions against the Centre,” the Chief Minister is reported to have said.

Even as Naidu asked them to remain careful, it so happened that the MPs got to meet Jaitley in the lobbies and exchanged a few words with him to which state Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu took exception.

He said they should have avoided speaking to him but later on softened a little and said that there was nothing wrong if they bump into Central ministers the lobbies where exchanging pleasantries will inevitably happen but sitting with them and discussing issues would send wrong signals since the TDP was no longer an ally of BJP.

The MPs, including former minister Sujana Chowdary, took exception to Ramakrishnudu’s advice and reminded him that they only met Jaitley in the lobbies and that they did not have any discussion on any issue with him.

Naidu also was in agreement with them when they said they only greeted Jaitley and nothing more and nothing less. He told them that he was not very excited over Jaitley’s call to him as he knew Jaitely had nothing new to offer and was only trying to build some bridges of understanding with him for which he was not ready.

Naidu also expressed his displeasure over Centre’s double standards in releasing funds for the state. He explained to the MPs that on one hand the Centre was extending several benefits to North Eastern States while denying them to AP. Naidu was referring to the recently sanctioned scheme NEIDS with an outlay of Rs 3,000 crore, valid till March 2020.