Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu Desam Party on Sunday called the Centre’s 27-page status report on aid given to the state a “cinema script or fiction document”, PTI reported.
The TDP, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s only ally in the south, has been at odds with the central government since February 1 as it feels that the Union Budget did not allocate enough to Andhra Pradesh.
The Centre’s report said the Bharatiya Janata Party government has allocated Rs 3,979.5 crore to Andhra Pradesh to make up for the state’s revenue deficit and has also committed Rs 22,113 crore to the state by 2020, according to the Deccan Chronicle.
The TDP, however, brought out its own 28-page counter document, saying “nothing substantial” was given to Andhra Pradesh in the past four years except “routine” Central grants that any other state would get.
“What we are demanding clearly is an action plan to meet all the commitments made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 with specific timelines,” said TDP MP Jayadev Galla after meeting Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu (pictured above) . He said the state also wanted the government to implement the six promises made in the Rajya Sabha by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “Otherwise, we cannot believe anything the Centre says,” Galla said, adding that the Centre gave “nothing special” to Andhra Pradesh despite its promises.
The BJP, however, asked the TDP to prove its claims. Andhra Pradesh BJP President K Haribabu, who released the status report in New Delhi on Saturday, said, “They may call it a cinema script or something else, but let them prove it if anything listed in it is wrong.” The MP added that the BJP was “fully concerned and committed” to the development of the state.
Union Minister of State for Power RK Singh said Andhra Pradesh got more from the Centre in the past three-and-a-half years than any other state since Independence. “People will agitate to raise their demands, but we have done so much for the state and will continue to do much more,” he said, referring to protests by TDP MPs during the Budget session last week.
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