Andhra Pradesh Congress president N Raghuveera Reddy asked chief minister Chandrababu Naidu to rush to New Delhi to ensure that the injustice was not done to the state at least in General Budget 2016-17.
“As there is no guarantee that what happened in Railway budget doesn’t happen in the case of General Budget to be presented by Arun Jaitley, it is high time Naidu went to Delhi and to see that the issues mentioned in the AP Reorganization Act,2014 are incorporated in the budget 2016-17,” Raghuveera Reddy said.
Addressing media in Hyderabad, the APCC president wondered as to why Naidu was not even in a position to demand justice to the state. ” When state was given a raw deal in the rail budget presented by the then Railway minister Lalu Prasada Yadav, the then chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy fought with the Congress-led UPA government. Naidu seems to have given up the practice of chief minister putting pressure on the centre for more funds and projects,” he said.
The convention, Raghuveera said, was that chief minister every time convenes a meeting of MPs from the state to brief them about the projects pending in the state and asks them to put pressure on the crentral government . ” Chandrababu Naidu thinks he is Maharaja of Andhra Pradesh. He doesn’t want to take the MPs into confidence. He thinks he alone can get the things done. So he has done away with te practice of conducting meetings with MPs on pending projects. Is it not irresponsibility? When the CM is not able to get what is promised in the Act, what is it that the CM meant for,” the PCC president asked.
Stating that the finance minister was presenting the general budget on February 29, he asked the CM to rush to New Delhi and meet the finance minister to get some important issues incorporated in his budget speech.
” There is nothing like too late. I urge the CM to rush to Delhi immediately,” he said. “As per the Act, the centre has to provide to the state Rs 12,000 crore to bridge the revenue gap, Rs 23000 crore package to the Rayalaseema and North Coastal Andhra districts, Rs 15,000 crore to Polavaram project, funds for the construction of Capital Polavaram etc. Naidu should set aside his political interests for the sake of the future of the state. The CM should stop bragging about his connections in Delhi and his proximity to the PM. He should think practically and get concrete benefits to the state,” Raghuvira said.
