Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president and former Minister Devineni Rajasekhar (Nehru) said unless political parties cutting across party lines make a unified demand for funds for the development of the State, the Central government is unlikely to sanction them.
Addressing a press conference at the PCC headquarters here on Wednesday, Mr Rajasekhar urged Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to take on board the YSRC, Left and the Congress parties in the fight for more funds. Saying that the State got “pittance” from the Centre through the 14{+t}{+h}Finance Commission, Mr Rajasekhar said that the Centre had been giving extremely small amounts till now. The State government put the loss caused by Hudhud cyclone at around Rs. 20,000 crore, but the Narendra Modi government announced relief of just Rs. 1,000 crore. The amount the Central government actually released was just Rs. 400 crore, he said.
The Chief Minister was expecting Rs. 1.3 lakh crore for development of a new capital, but nothing had been released till now. The Congress leader recalled how leaders of all political parties in Karnataka supported the then Prime Minister Deve Gowda cutting across party lines when he released funds for the development of Irrigation projects in his State. But in stark contrast, Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu had become tongue tied ever since he said that other States were against Andhra Pradesh being granted special status.
Mr Rajasekhar said Mr Chandrababu Naidu was asking his MPs to fight for special status for Andhra Pradesh on one hand, but he was also telling them to do it independent of the Congress MPs. Such strategies would help those trying to deny funds to the State, he said.
PCC general secretary T.J.R. Sudhakar Babu, City Congress president Malladi Vishnu were present.