IT'S PAYBACK TIME, TDP CHIEF NAIDU TELLS CENTRE WITH HIS WISH LIST

NEW DELHI: Just weeks after the NDA govt was sworn in, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who heads TDP, the second largest member of the coalition, came calling to the Capital with a long wish list — from short-term funds to additional capex support for infrastructure, money for the capital city of Amaravati and a new oil refinery — suggesting that some of the announcements be made in the Union Budget.

Sources in AP govt described the meeting between PM Narendra Modi and Naidu as “very positive and focussed on positive outcomes for the state”, and refrained from stating whether there was any demand for a package.

“The CM highlighted how Andhra is grappling with the repercussions of the unfair and unjust bifurcation of 2014. Additionally, the miserable governance of the previous administration marked by malice, corruption and mis-governance has dealt a more deleterious blow to the state than the bifurcation,” said a source.

During his meet with the PM, Naidu sought Centre’s “financial handholding” to tide over the crisis and focus on investments in specific projects and backward regions. He argued that there was “no other way to face such a challenge”.

The list of items for which Naidu has sought the Centre’s “cooperation” runs into several pages — covering short-term assistance as well as an additional allocation under the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment, meant to build core infrastructure.

Besides, project-specific support to build the govt complex and trunk infrastructure in Amaravati, which was chosen by Naidu to be the capital after the loss of Hyderabad to Telangana, the Polavaram irrigation project and development of Duggirajupatnam port also figure in the list.

Naidu also met home minister Amit Shah, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, oil minister Hardeep Puri, power minister Manohar Lal, agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and 16th Finance Commission chairman Arvind Panagariya and had specific demands from each of them, including projects and release of funds that are due to the state.

For instance, when he met Puri, he demanded that state-run BPCL set up an oil refinery in the state, in line with the AP Reorganisation Act of 2014, and suggested that an announcement by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman would “augur well” for increasing the refinery capacity in the country.

During his meeting with the home minister, the Andhra CM flagged division of assets with Telangana as an issue, along with bifurcation of several institutions and a resolution of financial issues between APGENCO, the power generation company, and Telangana power discoms.

Similarly, Naidu suggested to Manohar Lal that Vizag Kakinada should be promoted as a green hydrogen hub and sought Gadkari’s help for road projects. In his meeting with Goyal, he sought grants for building infrastructure in four industrial nodes.