Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is leaving for Delhi on Thursday morning to meet several Union Ministers and take up with them, a long list of pending issues ranging from special status to funding for the new capital.
He is also trying to meet the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, before returning to Hyderabad on Friday evening. Mr. Naidu is leading a delegation of five Ministers and officials attached to key departments.
His tight two-day schedule begins with a meeting with Union Power Minister, Piyush Goyal to seek Centre’s help in resolving power sharing issues with Telangana and emphasise that the Centre’s formula based on consumption of power was proving to be costly for Andhra Pradesh.
Power issueMr. Naidu would use the opportunity to explain the circumstances in which Andhra Pradesh was forced to take a decision on withdrawing Power Purchase Agreements with distribution companies to ensure that power generated in the State is exclusively used by it. He would seek Centre’s support to the State’s plan to provide uninterrupted power supply to industrial and domestic sectors and nine- hour quality power to agriculture.
K. Ram Mohan Rao, Andhra Pradesh Government’s Special Representative in Delhi told The Hindu that Mr. Naidu would raise the issue of special category status, speedy implementation of various provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act as well as allocation of IAS and IPS officers, in his meeting with Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh.
Special grantMr. Rao said the Chief Minister will have an important meeting with the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley where he will seek Central assistance for the new capital, special grant of Rs. 15,000 crore to overcome the problem of deficit budget, changes in Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act and crop loan waiver.
Polavaram projectThe contentious issues of Polavaram irrigation project and river water sharing would figure in Mr. Naidu’s talks with Union Water Resources Minister, Uma Bharathi while discussion with HRD Minister Smriti Irani would centre round speedy allotment of 11 national institutions including IIT and IIM.
He would discuss development of at least a dozen ports with Shipping and Roads Transport Minister Nithin Gadkari and petroleum related projects with Petroleum Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. Mr. Naidu is expected to ask for allocation of fair share of smart cities to Andhra Pradesh when he meets Union Urban Development Minister, M. Venkaiah Naidu besides metro rail project between Vijayawada and Guntur.
With Railway Budget coming up before parliament soon, Mr. Naidu is expected to submit a list of railway projects including new lines worth Rs. 12,000 crore to be included in the proposals for 2014-15, during his meeting with the Railway Minister, Sadananda Gowda.
