Centre making Andhra Pradesh political victim, says CM N Chandrababu Naidu
This has not only resulted in injustice to those States controlling the growth of population in terms of allocation of funds, but also in deciding the number of Parliament constituencies.
Published: 06th October 2018 01:50 AM | Last Updated: 06th October 2018 01:50 AM | A+A A-
Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu. ( Photo | EPS)
VIJAYAWADA: Emphasising that the Centre was making the State a political victim, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday directed officials concerned to explain the grave injustice done to the State due to the ‘unscientific’ bifurcation to 15th Finance Commission during its visit to the State in the second week of this month.
The State was denied special category status (SCS) by the Centre on the pretext that the 14th Finance Commission had recommended accordingly and now “we should raise the issue in order to get clarity over the commission’s stand on the SCS,” the Chief Minister said. Convening a meeting with the officials concerned at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi, Naidu deliberated over the issues to be raised with the commission, led by former Union secretary (revenue) and chairperson Nand Kishore Singh, during its visit to the state on October 11.
“While the Niti Aayog has remained a dummy after the Planning Commission was scrapped, the States have been left with no proper platform to up their problems with the Centre. It hasn’t helped that the central government was not convening National Development Council meetings,’’ the Chief Minister said and felt that commission is the right platform to raise issues concerning the States.
Taking exception over the Centre directing the commission to distribute revenue of the central taxes to States based on the 2011 Census instead of 1971 Census, Naidu said the move is objectionable and directed the government officials to clearly mention the point before the commission. Stating that as per the amendment made to the Constitution, 1971 Census should be taken into consideration until 2031 for sharing central taxes to the States, the Chief Minister said the Centre kept violating the same. This has not only resulted in injustice to those States controlling the growth of population in terms of allocation of funds, but also in deciding the number of Parliament constituencies.
THE FIRST CITY
CM N Chandrababu Naidu has proposed to christen the Tirupati - Nellore - Chennai Cluster as First City. He said taking first letters from the words - Fourth Industrial Revolution and Special Technology - the cluster could be named as FIRST city or FIRST hub
