TDP to raise ‘injustice to Andhra’ in parliament

The Telugu Desam Party, upset over “injustice” to Andhra Pradesh in the union budget 2018-19, yesterday said it would raise the issue in parliament.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu asked his party MPs to pressurise the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government to undo the injustice.At a parliamentary board meeting of the TDP, a key ally of the BJP, Naidu said the party would begin its fight by raising the issue in parliament, sources said. He made it clear that this was only the first step.The TDP chief said the party’s next course of action would depend on the response of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.The board discussed in detail the budget and the central government’s failure to address the issues of the state.Some TDP leaders suggested the TDP two central ministers should quit to put pressure on the BJP. Naidu, however, said the party should first raise the issue in parliament.TDP leader and federal Minister of State for Science and Technology Y Sujana Chowdhary told reporters that for the party the state’s interests were more important than the alliance with the BJP.He said the MPs would try to put pressure on the central government to honour all commitments made to the state at the time of its bifurcation from Andhra Pradesh in 2014.Chowdhary said that the budget has let down the people of Andhra Pradesh.Stating that there will be no compromise on the state’s interests, he said the future course of action would be decided by Naidu. The TDP leader said the government should immediately address the key issues including the release of funds under the special assistance measure announced last year, funds for the Polavaram project, assistance to build the new state capital Amaravati and setting up of a railway zone in Visakhapatnam.Naidu had met Modi with a list of demands ahead of parliament’s budget session.The TDP chief has been demanding that New Delhi help it out till the state overcame its revenue deficit and developed at par with the other neighbouring states.“The budget allocations are very dissatisfactory and it is for the BJP to explain how it will address this. In the meantime, we will take the message to the people as to how Andhra Pradesh was completely ignored in the budget,” The Times of India quoted Naidu as saying.There is a “strong mood” among TDP leaders to break away from the alliance with the BJP, the Press Trust of India quoted sources as saying.“Bengaluru, Mumbai and Ahmedabad got a substantial allocation for various projects but none of our projects, including the Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam Metro rail, got anything,” a source quoted Naidu as saying.“At the time of the state bifurcation, I was the only one who demanded equal treatment to both states. Though gross injustice was done to Andhra on account of bifurcation, I aligned with the BJP only because having good relations with the Centre could undo the injustice,” Naidu told the TDP leaders.