Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday accused the Narendra Modi government of diverting tax revenues collected from the south to fund development projects in northern states.
“There is nothing called central money or state money,” Hindustan Times quoted Naidu as saying during the motion of thanks to the governor’s address in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. “It is the people’s money. The southern states contribute maximum tax revenues to the Centre, but it is diverting the money to the development of northern states.”
Two Union Cabinet ministers who are Telugu Desam Party MPs had resigned from their posts on March 8 after the Centre failed to grant Andhra Pradesh special category status.
Naidu claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government had accorded “step-motherly treatment” to the state. “When industrial tax incentives and Goods and Services Tax refunds are being given to other states, why can’t they be given to Andhra Pradesh, which had suffered a lot due to its unscientific bifurcation?” he asked.
The chief minister said that the National Democratic Alliance government could not shirk its responsibility of giving special category status to Andhra Pradesh, because the BJP had also played a role in bifurcation.
Naidu also rejected the BJP’s claim that the state had not accounted for the funds the Centre had released so far, and said Andhra Pradesh was not asking for more than what had been promised under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
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