Naidu has been working out an approach to seek as much financial help as possible from the Union government, leveraging his position in NDA.
Published Jul 17, 2024 | 4:00 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 18, 2024 | 10:20 AM
![Amit Shah and Chandrababu Naidu. (X)]](https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media.thesouthfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Amit-Shah-and-Chandrababu-Naidu.-X.jpeg "Amit Shah and Chandrababu Naidu. (X)]")
Amit Shah and Chandrababu Naidu. (X)]
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is imperceptibly increasing pressure on the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for liberal financial support mostly in the form of a recovery package to get the state back on the rails.
Naidu who arrived in Delhi on Tuesday, 16 July, for the second time after he took over as the chief minister of the state in June, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and sought support for the state in the national budget to be presented in Lok Sabha by Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman on 23 July.
Before landing in Delhi, Naidu did a thorough homework on which sector in the state needed what kind of support, and accordingly apprised the home minister of the prevailing “devastating condition of finances” in the state and sought the Union government’s handholding to tide over the crisis.
After meeting the Home Minister, Naidu in a message on X, said:” I discussed the findings of the four White Papers released, outlining the staggering debt accumulated between FY 2019-24 that spiralled our state’s finances out of control. Economic incompetence, gross mismanagement, and rampant corruption by the previous government have caused irreparable damage to our state.”
The chief minister then sought the Union government to come out with a recovery plan, but in a non-offensive manner, making it look like a joint effort.
He said:” Honouring the mandate given by our people to the NDA, the Central and State governments will devise a comprehensive recovery plan and bring our State’s economy back on track. We shall fulfil people’s aspirations together.”
Naidu has been working out an approach to seek as much financial help as possible from the Union government, leveraging the position of strength he is in now in the NDA.
Accordingly, he went through with a fine-toothed comb of how the previous government had taken apart Amaravati.
He also elaborated on the shambles that the Polavaram Project now lies in, the extent of destruction in the power sector and natural resources, and the way the previous dispensation had played havoc on the state’s finances.
The chief minister, apparently, explained the no-holds-barred destruction that took place, with the help of the statistics he had worked out while preparing the white papers to get to the bottom of the actual status of various sectors in the state.
Naidu is also understood to have reminded the Union government of the promises made in the 13th schedule of the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act and subtly brought pressure on Amit Shah to redeem them.
As the officials of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana prepare for a meeting with the Union government on subjects that had been listed out in the 13th schedule, Naidu’s visit is understood to be meant to set the tone for their early resolution.
The promises include setting up institutions of national importance including IIT, NIT, IIM, IISER, Central University, Agriculture University and an IIIT.
Under the infrastructure head, the Union government had promised to set up a seaport at Dugirajupatnam, do a feasibility report on setting up a steel plant in Kadapa, build a Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor, constituting a new railway zone, sanction a metro rail facility in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada connecting Guntur and Tenali among others.
The state is no one’s envy now as its financial health is in distress with public debt rising from 31.02 percent of the GSDP in 2019-20 to 33.32 percent in 2023-24.
In his maiden visit to Delhi after taking over as the chief minister, Naidu had successfully persuaded the Union government to set up a petrochemical complex and an oil refinery in the state with an estimated investment of about ₹60,000 crore.
The chief minister apparently is playing his cards close to the chest, not revealing specifics of what he intends to seek from the Union government, lest similar demands from other states might sabotage his action plan for the state.
At the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the chief minister did not disclose the specifics of his Dehi mission when the ministers inquired, saying that it would be better if certain issues were kept secret.
However, sources said that Naidu might seek incentives mostly for the industry sector to help them in a package as there was now no scope in according special category status for Andhra Pradesh.
In his first tenure as the chief minister of the reorganised state of Andhra Pradesh, Naidu had settled for a special package in lieu of special category status.
He defended his decision to prefer a package saying it was better than chasing a wild goose — special category status — but in 2018, he took a U-Turn and said the special package was an empty shell.
He withdrew from the NDA government and later from the NDA and fought against the BJP fiercely for the injustice done to the state. However, in 2019, he lost the election to the YSRCP.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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