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Vajpayee agrees to consider 'rich' states' demands

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee tonight assured chief ministers of six states led by Nara Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh that he would "positively" consider their demands for more Central allocation once the new recommendations of the Finance Commission were submitted to him.

"Yes, we apprised the prime minister of our grievances and demanded that justice be done to the states which had been performing well economically. He assured us that the Centre would consider our demands," Naidu told reporters outside Vajpayee's 7, Race Course Road residence.

Naidu said chief ministers of six states and Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal also met the "full committee of the Eleventh Finance Commission and expressed their displeasure with the allocation of funds."

"We told the Finance Commission panel that we are not against additional allocations to the economically backward states, but this cannot be done at the cost of the states performing well economically," Naidu said.

The chief ministers met Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha too. Sinha assured the delegation that the government would do whatever it could to set the imbalance right.

He said the spirit of cooperation that has characterised the relations between the Centre and the states all these years would continue.

The chief ministers' conference has managed to convey to the Centre that the relatively prosperous states would not remain silent if the government continued to pamper the states that have performed poorly economically.

"We have done our duty in highlighting the injustice done to us and now that the prime minister, the finance minister and the Finance Commission have assured us that justice would be done," Naidu said.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party, which heads a coalition at the Centre, has maintained that the chief ministers' meet had no political significance, the Congress has adopted a wait-and-watch policy

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister appears to have rattled the BJP leadership by going ahead with the conference, which has come as an embarrassment to the prime minister.

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We are not against poor states: Chandrababu Naidu

EARLIER REPORT
CMs' meet: PMO worried despite Naidu's assurances

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