VIJAYAWADA: Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu reached Delhi on Saturday evening. As he arrived at the AP Bhavan, Chandrababu Naidu held a meeting with
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Benerji,
Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and Kerala chief minister
Pinarayi Vijayan. The four chief ministers then left for Delhi Lieutenant Governor’s house where Delhi chief minister
Arvind Kejriwal is on a protest. The chief ministers extended support to Kejriwal and the AAP ministers who have staged a protest at at the house of the LG.
Sources said that Chandrababu Naidu is also planning to meet the chief ministers of Pondicherry and Punjab, along with the chief ministers of Karnataka, Kerala and West Bengal, on Sunday before attending the scheduled NITI Aayog meeting. This is the second meeting of the non-BJP chief ministers after the oath-taking ceremony of Bengaluru CM Kumaraswamy.
Chandrababu Naidu is also leading a movement against
Narendra Modi on the Terms of Reference (ToR) given to the 15th Finance Commission. He had held one meeting in Amaravati in May where the finance ministers of several states were present and raised their objections to the ToR given to the next Finance Commission.
The major objection from these states was the criteria of 2011 population in the devolution of funds against the 1971 population, which is followed by the Finance Commissions till now. He asserted that the states which have implemented the family planning programme after 1971 would lose heavily in the funds devolution and wants the Central government to revert back to the 1971 census.
In the NITI Aayog meeting too, Chandrababu Naidu is planning to raise the AP bifurcation issues for which he is seeking the support of the chief ministers.
