Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is understood to have asked a hefty financial package of a whopping Rs 3 lakh crore for the development of Andhra Pradesh, if it is not possible to give special status to the State. Sources in Delhi said Naidu, who had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely and others, submitted a long list of demands including the financial package of Rs 3 lakh crore under various heads to the State spread over next four years.
The Centre today said a "roadmap" for implementing key provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act would be prepared and a final view on granting special status to the state would be taken "reconciling" with the Finance Commission's recommendations. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated this after an over 90-minute meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in New Delhi amid escalating pressure from the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh on the demand for granting special status to the state as promised during bifurcation last year.
"The Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya has been asked to be in touch with the officers of the state government and to prepare a roadmap with regard to enforcement of each one of the provisions, which I have just mentioned in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, which are commitments of the whole country towards the growth and development of Andhra Pradesh," the Finance Minister said.
Union minister and Telugu Desam MP Sujana Chowdary clarified that special status to AP is not far away. As per the calculations made by the AP government earlier, since 1956, when the integrated state came into being, the Centre had invested Rs 1.4 lakh crore in Hyderabad, the AP government Rs 5.89 lakh crore and the private sector Rs 6 lakh crore.
Earlier in the day, Andhra Pradesh Government's Special Representative in Delhi K Rama Mohana Rao said that Naidu has invited the Prime Minister to lay the foundation stone for the new capital city which is being constructed in Amravati.
"The foundation stone laying ceremony will be held on October 22 for which the Prime Minister is being invited," he said.
