Hitting back at the YSR Congress for constantly criticising the Andhra Pradesh government, Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said every aspect of the budget was in tune with the Telugu Desam government’s efforts at turning the residuary State into a ‘Swarnandhra Pradesh.’
In his 48 minute-long reply on the floor of the House on Wednesday, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was leaving no stone unturned in his endeavour to get all possible assistance from the Centre. The Opposition YSRC had earlier staged a walkout in protest over what it termed denial of adequate time to its members during the debate. The House had members of the treasury benches and those of the Bharatiya Janata Party, including P. Vishnukumar Raju (Visakhapatnam North).
“We are not begging. All we are asking for is what was promised to us -- declaration of special status for a bifurcated, residuary AP, special package, special tax incentives and special attention in the 14 Finance Commission beginning 2015,” he said, adding that he was hopeful of the Centre’s cooperation, with the TDP being a partner in the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre.
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“Agricultural growth leads to real growth and only then will it have a cascading effect on the economy and for this we need improve the lot of the poor, primarily those involved in farm activity. We have identified growth engines specific to this sector, apart from the Chief Minister’s ‘Seven Missions’,” he stated.
The budget for the 10 months in the financial year included projections based on what the State would get in the form of Central assistance, he said, explaining the reason for grant-in-aid being estimated at about Rs. 29,000 crore. “It was not a mindless exercise in numbers as the Opposition feels,” he said, giving the break-up. The figure includes Rs. 7,000 crore as Central tax compensation, revenue gap to the tune of Rs. 16,000 crore and the rest coming from Centrally-sponsored schemes,” he added.
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The government’s priority now was to redistribute the increased revenues he said, citing commercial taxes and excise, that grew significantly, as examples. He made a specific mention of how the government was working to ‘quash’ the mafia in sand, mines and excise and promised that rowdies who had surfaced during the past 10 years would be handled the way they should be.
The prime task before the Chandrababu Naidu government today was to rebuild Brand Andhra Pradesh that had taken been pushed to the depths from the high it witnessed between 1995 and 2003, he said. A lot needed to be done and a great future awaited people of the State. The TDP government was geared up to show the world what development is and pave the way for Swarnandhra Pradesh, he said, summed up.