Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy left for New Delhi on May 26 (Friday) to attend the NITI Aayog general council meeting scheduled to be held on May 27 (Saturday).
The Chief Minister met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to discuss various issues relating to the State. He thanked the Union Minister for releasing over ₹10,000 crore towards the revenue deficit and pending dues to Andhra Pradesh.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and other Union Ministers during his visit.
At the NITI Aayog meeting, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy would make a presentation, highlighting the government’s initiatives in the education and health sectors.
The health sector initiatives included construction of village health clinics, 17 medical colleges, primary healthcare centres, ‘108’ and ‘104’ ambulances, family doctor system and Aarogyasri. The initiative to provide nutritious food to pregnant women, lactating mothers and newborn babies too would be part of the presentation.
He would attend the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Mr. Modi on May 28 and return the same day.
Turning to Twitter, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy congratulated Mr. Modi on dedicating the new Parliament complex to the nation.
“I congratulate @narendramodiji for dedicating the grand, majestic and spacious Parliament building to the nation,” he said.
The Parliament, being the temple of democracy, reflects our nation’s soul and belongs to the people of our country, and to all the political parties in the true spirit of democracy, Mr. Jagan said, and added that his party would attend the historic event.
He even urged the other political parties to reconsider their decision to boycott the inaugural ceremony.
“Boycotting such an auspicious event is not in the true spirit of democracy. Setting aside all political differences, I request that all political parties attend this glorious event,” he said.
YSRCP general secretary and parliamentary party leader V. Vijaya Sai Reddy and other MPs would attend the inauguration.
Jagan’s plea to Nirmala Sitaraman
During a 40-minute meeting with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Mr. Jagan raised many issues relating to Andhra Pradesh while thanking the Central Government for extending assistance to the State.
Mr. Jagan explained the consequences of resource gap funding in 2014-15 and availing of loans beyond the permissible limits between 2016-19. He also discussed the limit on borrowing by the State during the year 2021-22.
Stating that Telangana had to clear dues to the tune of ₹6,756.92 crore towards power supplied by AP Genco to Telangana Discoms, Mr. Jagan said that the issue was brought to the notice of the Central Government many times now. AP Genco was facing financial difficulties and the release of the dues would be helpful, he said.
The State Government had introduced many revolutionary changes in the education sector. Nadu-Nedu was one such initiative. The government spent ₹6,000 crore and completed Nadu-Nedu in 15,717 schools. Similarly, the Nadu-Nedu was being implemented in the health sector. The expenditure incurred on these heads should be considered as capital investment and extend special assistance, he added.
