Who loves Andhra Pradesh most?  A war of words

VIJAYAWADA:  Taking serious exception to the nine-page letter written to him by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah on Saturday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said it was full of lies, half-truths and deviation from facts.Refuting the claim of Amit Shah that the TDP had pulled out of NDA only for political motives, Naidu said that it was the saffron party, which unilaterally severed ties with TDP in Telangana. “We haven’t taken the decision of quit NDA for the sake of politics. We did it keeping State’s development and people’s aspirations in mind,” he said.

Reading out the letter in the Legislative Assembly, the Chief Minister wondered how a person occupying such a high position could write such a letter full of lies.  He sought to know if it was right on the part of the Central government to make such irresponsible remarks.“Do you have the courage to review the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, assurances made in the Rajya Sabha, including the Special Category Status, and answer our questions in the Parliament?” the Chief Minister asked.​

Naidu said he was only asking the Centre to give the State what was being provided to other states with special status, as the State was also entitled to the Special Category Status.“We asked you only to review the implementation of promises made to the State, but you have subverted what we have asked for? You have figures and we too have them. It is a government to government affair. Let us review what was given and what was not. But how justified are you to make unilateral statements?” he asked.

He sought to know what happened to the promised Special Package in lieu of the Special Category Status.  He said the people of the State were now feeling that BJP had done more injustice to the State than the Congress.He said the CAG report had clearly stated that revenu deficit was Rs 16,000 crore.  “Now, they say we are diverting funds to spend them on other projects,” he said while reading out the figures.

On industrial incentives, he said though the Central government had mentioned that no incentives would be provided to any other States after GST took came into force, it had extended industrial incentives in the form of reimbursement of GST, excise duty and other tax benefits to the special category states. “We only asked the Centre to extended the same benefits to our  State,” he said.On special development funds for backward districts in the State, he said Rs 1,050 crore was released to seven districts from 2014-15 to 2016-17 and the State government had submitted utilisation certificates to a tune of Rs 946.47 crore.  “But, the Centre, after releasing the fourth installment of Rs 350 crore, went back on its promise, claiming that the State government had not submitted the UCs for the funds released in the last three years,”

He said such a development had never taken place in the history and asked if it was not the reflection of the style of functioning of the Prime Minister’s Office. With regard to Polavaram project, he said there was no mention of land acquisition or relief and rehabilitation. “They have only resorted to criticism of the State government ed in the letter, but have not mentioned what they did and what they intend to do,” he said, taking objection to the language used in the letter.

Pointing out at the Shah’s claim of setting up crude oil refinery and petrochemical complex at Kakinada, he questioned its purpose. “Was it not for taking the gas and fuel away from the State. How can it be an investment for development,” he questioned.Chief Minister’s son and IT Minister Nara Lokesh sought to know whether Utilisation Certificates required were for Special Category Status and 18 other assurances made to AP in the AP State Reorganisation Act.

Taking a dig at the BJP leaders’ remark that the State government was not using the images of Prime Minister Modi in posters relating to the Centrally-sponsored schemes, Naidu sought to know whether Modi, who served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, had publicised the photos of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.During the teleconference held in the morning, Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu informed the Chief Minister about the proposed meeting of finance ministers of Southern States to be held on April 10.Ramakrishnudu explained that he had received a phone call from his Kerala counterpart Isaac to discuss the Finance Commission’s proposal to use 2011 census as the basis to allocate Union tax revenues to states.

Revenue Deficit
Amit Shah: Your government’s claim of Rs 16,000 crore deficit in the year 2014-15 is fallacious as it includes the expenditure on farm loan waivers, pensions etc. Our party governments in other states implemented similar loan waiver, but have met such expenditure from their own sources. The Centre can’t be expected to meet these expenses. Is it not political brinkmanship to make unjustified and exaggerated demands and then allege neglect when they are not accepted?

Naidu: The revenue deficit was calculated by CAG. At that time, neither me nor you (BJP) was in the power. In fact, revenue deficit would have been Rs 19,000 cr had we calculated the other expenditure for the whole year. But, we didn’t. How can you avoid filling the revenue gap citing that the state government included other expenditure like farm loan waiver and pension?

Rollback of released funds
Amit Shah: You have been claiming that the Centre has taken back the fourth installment released towards backward districts. This is nothing but a figment of your imagination Naidu: The state government got Rs 350 crore on Feb 9, 2018. The RBI had taken them back on Feb 15, 2018
Capital Amaravati
Amit Shah: The state government has spent only 8 percent of the Rs 1,000 crore released for underground drainage projects in the capital region. When the state government has not utilized the funds given so far, how can it expect more funds?
Naidu: A total of about 32 percent of works in Vijayawada and Guntur have been completed and we sent UCs for Rs 350 crore

Polavaram project
Amit Shah: Central Government has released Rs. 5,364.00 crore and is committed to fund the balance amount of the project as per the announcement made by Finance Minister on September 8, 2016 
Naidu: No specific mention regarding the funding assistance as per the revised estimates for land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement has been made. Important issues like this have been ignored
HPCL, GAIL and ONGC

Amit Shah: Going beyond statutory commitments, an investment of over Rs 1 lakh crore on highways and roads, and of over Rs 1.4 lakh crore by HPCL, GAIL and ONGC, and ultra mega solar power projects and Solar parks at a cost of Rs 24,000 cr were granted
Naidu: How can you claim that you are investing in AP when the intention is to take away the fuel and gas to other states from ours. Similarly, the claim of providing funding assistance of Rs 24,000 crore for the solar parks is false. The Centre just extended about Rs 800 crore. We will know more about the funding to roads only after we get the details of the assistance provided to other states.

About BJP-TDP split
Amit Shah: The TDP’s decision to quit NDA is both unfortunate and unilateral. It is a decision guided wholly and solely by political considerations instead of developmental concerns.
Naidu: It is not unilateral. We have patiently waited for four years expecting that the BJP would do justice to AP. When we realised that the state is being ignored, we pulled out our minister. It should be noted that we quit NDA only after the Centre continued to be indifferent to our state’s needs. It was in deed due to the developmental concerns and not political interests

Bifurcation
Amit Shah: In the previous LS and RS, when TDP did not have adequate representation, it was the BJP that fought for the justice of hardworking Telugu people 
Naidu: If the BJP had not supported the AP Reorganisation Bill, 2014, in the Parliament, it would not have been passed in the first instance