In 1st meet with PM, Jagan presses for AP special tag

AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh chief minister-designate Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who met PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Sunday, urged him to grant special category status (SCS) to the state which is reeling under a debt-burden of Rs 2.57 lakh crore.
The YSRC chief, however, said that AP had little political leverage to push the Centre on SCS as the NDA had full majority and the state could only hope that the government would act fairly and honour promises made during bifurcation.
In his hour-long meeting with the PM, Jagan submitted a representation seeking the Centre’s support for state’s various projects. “The PM positively responded to the issues put forwarded by me which I came to know through my interaction with senior officials in the last three days. We need the Centre’s support on many issues and hence we will continue to have a cordial relationship with the Centre,” Jagan said.
The two leaders congratulated each other on their poll victories and Jagan also invited the PM for his swearing-in ceremony on May 30. Jagan was accompanied by chief secretary L V Subramanyam and YSRC MPs Vijayasai Reddy, Vemireddy Prabhakara Reddy, V Balashowry, Nandigam Suresh, Margani Bharath, YS Avinash Reddy and PV Midhun Reddy.
Jagan also called on BJP president Amit Shah.
Modi assured Jagan of support
Later in the day, the PM tweeted that he had an excellent meeting with the AP CM-designate and had assured him of all possible support from the Centre.

After the meeting, in an interaction with media at Andhra Bhavan, Jagan said: “Despite my silent prayer to deprive the Centre of absolute majority, there was an overwhelming mandate for the NDA. Now they don’t need our support. But we need their support to resolve many issues related to the state’s projects. What we could do now is to pursue the issue in a sustained manner and keep reminding the PM whenever and wherever we meet.”
Jagan said the Centre should extend its support in completing Dugarajapatnam port and Kadapa steel plant, adding that he has urged the PM to release dues regarding Polavaram project. YRSC MP Balashowry said the PM’s response was wonderful as he had given a patient hearing to Jagan. He said YSRC was hopeful of the Centre giving a fair deal to AP in the coming days.
Referring to the state’s debt burden, Jagan said that AP was surviving on overdrafts from RBI as the state was paying nearly Rs.20,000 crore annually towards interest on debts which stand at Rs.2.57 lakh crore now from Rs.97000 crore when the state was carved out in 2014.
On the state’s administration, Jagan said he planned to make AP a corruption-free state by eliminating middlemen and following a transparent system in awarding contracts. He said he would review performance of different departments after the swearing-in ceremony and release a white paper on the financial status of the state.