Prakash Javadekar said he was “pained” when he heard Naidu saying that the TDP had got fewer seats in 2014 Lok Sabha elections due to the party’s alliance with BJP.
SOON AFTER Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Wednesday accused the BJP-led Centre of meting out “injustice” to his state by denying it special category status, as promised under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, the BJP hit back and rubbished the charges.
Addressing the media along with state BJP chief K Hari Babu and party spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said, “We have done everything for Andhra Pradesh and will continue to do…. Our commitment for national development is true and final.”
Javadekar listed several projects sanctioned by the Centre in AP — among them the IIT, Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy, IIIT and AIIMS, besides work on the Polavaram project.
Javadekar said he was “pained” when he heard Naidu saying that the TDP had got fewer seats in 2014 Lok Sabha elections due to the party’s alliance with BJP. “If there was no Modi or the BJP, where would the TDP be,” he asked.
The Union minister also ridiculed the rumour that the BJP was getting closer to YSR Congress, the opposition party in AP.
The TDP had last month pulled out of the NDA after the Centre expressed its inability to grant special category status to AP.
Addressing the media earlier, Naidu had said the Central government was trying to damage his credibility. “That is very painful for me…. I have built my credibility over the last 40 years,” he said.
He alleged that the Centre had first released a Rs 350-crore package for backward districts of AP on February 9, and withdrew it on February 15. “Unofficially, it was withdrawn on the instructions of the Prime Minister’s Office,” he claimed. He said the Centre is engaging in propaganda and attacking his state. “We are talking about cooperative federalism and Team India, and when I demand what is due to me under bifurcation, they are attacking my state. Is it right?” he asked.
(With PTI inputs)