Why Did Naidu Meet Modi?

According to an Andhra government statement, Naidu 'reposed confidence' in the PM's leadership.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Thursday, and sought increased central assistance for the southern state -- especially for rebuilding state capital Amaravati, the Polavaram Irrigation Project, and developing the state's backward regions, with a Bundelkhand-like package.

The Andhra CM, who is on a two-day visit to the national capital -- his first since taking office on June 12 -- termed his discussions with the PM 'constructive'.

Naidu also sought central handholding for the state finances in the short-term, incentives for industrial development and additional allocation under the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for capital investment, targeting essential sectors such as roads, bridges, irrigation, and drinking water projects.

In his meeting with Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Naidu requested BPCL to set up a refinery in Andhra in consonance with Section 93(4) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

The Andhra CM said that an announcement on establishing a refinery in the state in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget speech would 'augur well' for increasing the refinery capacity of the country in its journey towards achieving the objective of Viksit Bharat by 2047.

According to an Andhra government statement, Naidu 'reposed confidence' in the PM's leadership.

The people of Andhra Pradesh, Naidu said, have 'emphatically placed their trust' in the National Democratic Alliance and granted 'both leaders a significant mandate to fulfil their promises and commitments'.

Naidu told the PM that Andhra continues to grapple with the 'repercussions of the unscientific, unfair, and unjust bifurcation of 2014'.

Sources in Naidu's Telugu Desam Party sought to highlight that their leader spent the last three weeks assessing the state's financial situation before making the trip to the national capital.

Naidu conveyed to the PM that Andhra's growth has plummeted, revenue receipts have tapered, and liabilities peaked because of the 'unproductive expenditure and fiscal hara-kiri, marked by the exploitation of natural resources for personal use and no focus on the development of human resources', of the YSR Congress Party regime such as the Polavaram project and building Amaravati.

The CM told the PM that Andhra Pradesh is 'severely constrained' by lack of financial resources.

'Committed expenses, including salaries, pensions and debt servicing, exceed the state's revenue receipts, leaving no fiscal space for productive capital investment,' Naidu told the PM, according to the official release.

Naidu said the previous government resorted to indiscriminate borrowings, marked by hypothecation of future excise revenues and pledging of government buildings, combined with large-scale diversion of funds, which resulted in a situation of high public expectation and acute scarcity of resources.

'There is no other way to face such challenge except by way of financial handholding by the central government,' Naidu told the PM.

Apart from calling on the PM, the Andhra CM met Sixteenth Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya and half a dozen Union ministers -- Home Minister Amit A Shah, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, among others.

On Wednesday, on the eve of his visit to New Delhi, Naidu released a white paper on Amaravati, the second of seven that his government plans to put out.

He had earlier released a white paper on the Polavaram project.

The Naidu-led TDP has 16 Lok Sabha MPs, making it the second-biggest party in the NDA, which makes it a crucial constituent of the coalition government at the Centre.

The CM, who is scheduled to conclude his two-day visit on Friday, is slated to meet the chief minister of neighbouring Telangana, Revanth Reddy, on Saturday.

In a letter to Reddy last month, Naidu had proposed the meeting to resolve pending issues between the two states.

In his reply, Reddy agreed that resolving all pending issues was imperative.

The Telangana CM, who led the Congress to victory in the Assembly polls in December 2023, was earlier with the TDP, and worked as a legislator under Naidu in united Andhra Pradesh and also later in Telangana.

He quit the TDP to join the Congress in 2017.

CM's wish list

Revanth Reddy Too Meets The PM

Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Thursday met Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Shah to seek the Centre's help in resolving pending issues with Andhra Pradesh, setting up an Indian Institute of Management in Hyderabad, improving power generation capacity and fulfilling promises made to the state in 2014.

Telangana officials said Reddy's meeting with the PM lasted nearly an hour.

During his meeting with Shah, the home minister flagged the need to set up security camps for central security forces in some of the districts of Telangana where the CPI-Maoist is attempting to regroup and increase its influence.

This, Shah said after Reddy told him that the CPI-Maoist 'is attempting to expand its influence by leveraging the favourable terrain in the forested hills along the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border'.

Reddy asked Shah for his intervention in resolving pending issues related to the Reorganisation Act, such as distribution of government buildings and corporations between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

He 'emphasised the need for justice for Telangana in claims made by Andhra Pradesh over assets and institutions not mentioned in the Reorganisation Act'.

The Telangana CM met the PM and Shah on a day when his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrababu Naidu was also in the national capital to meet Modi and some Union ministers.

According to a Telangana government statement, Reddy sought fulfilment of the commitments made in the 2014 Telangana Act (Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act), including establishing a steel plant in Bayyaram and a coach factory in Kazipet.

He also sought the removal of the Shravanapalli coal block from the auction list and its allocation, along with Koyagudem and Sattupalli Block 3, to the Singareni Collieries Company Limited, which was vital to meeting Telangana's power generation needs, the statement added.

Reddy's other demands included revival of the Information Technology Investment Region in Hyderabad to boost IT infrastructure.

The project, initially approved in 2010, has been stalled since 2014.

The Telangana CM requested the allocation of 2,450 acres of defence land to the state for infrastructure projects, including elevated corridors on the Hyderabad-Karimnagar and Hyderabad-Nagpur highways (NH-44).

Reddy said the state government will offer land in Raviryal in exchange.

Reddy sought increased allocation for his state under the forthcoming phase of the PM Awas Yojana to build 2.5 million houses and release of Rs 1,800 crore (Rs 18 billion) under the Backward Regions Grant Fund for 2019-2024.

He asked for the Centre's support in including Telangana in the India Semiconductor Mission, with several companies expressing interest in setting up semiconductor fabs in Hyderabad.

He said an IIM could come up on a piece of land already available on the Hyderabad Central University campus.

In his meeting with Shah, Reddy said Telangana was allocated 61 Indian Police Service posts in 2014, which are now insufficient for the state's needs. He sought an additional 29 IPS posts for Telangana.

He sought the Centre's help to set up security force camps in Adilabad, Mancherial and Komaram Bheem Asifabad districts, similar to those in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, to counter Left-wing extremism.

Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu accompanied Reddy during the meetings.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com