Modis projects that tilted the northeast states towards BJP

NEW DELHI: The stellar performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recent state elections in Tripura Nagaland and Meghalaya is a landmark for a party which had little traction in the region except in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The party never had any significant connect with the masses and was seen as an outsider. What changed the situation? BJP president Amit Shah in his first press conference after the results credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi s Act East policy for the upsurge in fortunes. Modi s Act East policy included a big push for road and railway infrastructure and various steps to boost the regional economy. While most of the infrastructural projects are at various stages of completion Modi s northeast agenda created a rhetoric of inclusiveness that helped bring the masses closer to the BJP. Below are a few important initiatives by the Modi government that may have made the BJP acceptable to the northeast voters: The railways push Before a metre-gauge line started in 2008 Tripura didn t have any railway link with the rest of the country. The Modi government converted it into broad gauge. All over the region the government has converted 900 km of http://kkflipkart.aircus.com/ tracks to broad gauge. It also launched a Rajdhani Express and the Tripura Sundari Express between Agartala and Delhi. In 2016 then railways minister Suresh Prabhu laid the foundation stone for the Rs 2 315 crore 88-km Dhansiri-Kohima railway track connecting Kohima to the national railway network. The government also began railway projects to connect Imphal Aizawl and Shillong. It has introduced more than two dozen new trains in the region. It also signed a deal with Bangladesh to develop a rail link between Tripura and Chittagong which would speed up flow of products especially grains to the region. Roads and highways Modi has branded his policy to build infrastructure in northeast as Transformation by Transportation . Lack of connectivity has been a major roadblock in the economic progress on the region. Modi s promise of connectivity resonates with the masses. More than 3 800 km of national highways with an investment of Rs. 32 000 crore have been sanctioned in the region in the past three years while nearly 1 200 km of roads have been constructed according to the government. In a public announcement in December last year Modi said the centre would invest another Rs. 60 000 crore under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in the northeast and Rs. 30 000 crore under the Bharatmala project over three years. Modi also dedicated to the nation a 271-km two-lane national highway connecting Tura in western Meghalaya to the state capital Shillong last year. Air connectivity The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has allocated Rs 3 400 crore for the upgradation of airports in the North East region. According to the government projects worth Rs 934 crore have already been completed while the rest would be over in the next two or three years. The aviation projects in the northeast include re-carpeting of the runway at Silchar and Lilabari airport and an aviation manpower training institute; development of Rupsi airport; a new integrated airport and an engineering workshop at Agartala; expansion and revamp of existing terminal building and runway at Dimapur; installation of an instrument landing system (ILS) at the Shillong airport; and operationalisation and development of the Tura airport. Other projects and policies Last year Modi dedicated the 60-MW Tuirial hydropower power project which made Mizoram the third power-surplus state in the northeast to Sikkim and Tripura. The project is expected to produce 251 million units of electricity annually. Announced in 1998 by the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government it was the first major central government project to be successfully commissioned in Mizoram. Recently the government decided to fully fund various Central projects being implemented in the northeast instead of the previous practice of sharing 90 per cent of the cost. The Modi government has also made the 1360-km long India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway which is to be completed in 2020 a centerpiece of its Act East policy. Opening the northeast to the ASEAN countries the highway will boost the regional economy. In Budget 2018-19 the government re-classified bamboo from tree to grass which would enable easier cultivation for commercial purposes. Bamboo is central to the rural economy of the northeast. Its classification as tree meant various restrictions on its produce transport and sale.

Two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers in Andhra Pradesh Government submitted their resignation in the Chief Ministers office on Thursday amid the deteriorating relations between Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and BJP. The ministers who have submitted their resignation are State Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas and State endowment minister Pydikondala Manikyala Rao in N. Chandrababu Naidu s cabinet. The BJP MLAs were given ministerial berths as coalition partner. Earlier Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader P.V.N. Madhav categorically stated Our ministers will resign from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Cabinet . We have decided that our ministers will resign from TDP Cabinet. We will be going to the people and telling them all the things Centre has done for the state. Since independence till date no state has received as many favours as that were given to Andhra Pradesh Madhav told ANI. We consider Andhra as a special state and has provided it with all development that was needed to be done in all factors. Also the moment our minister comes out from the cabinet we will break the news to all he added. Madhav further noted that injustice was not done to the state by Centre but by other things related. This statement came hours after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu asked the TDP ministers to resign from the Union Cabinet.
ALSO READ TDP-BJP coalition: Andhra CM says I never break mitra dharma Special status: Andhra CM questions BJP s silence Andhra CM warns BJP to not play with Telugu people BJP Congress responsible for injustice with Andhra: TDP AP CM congratulates BJP for winning Gujarat Himachal polls span.p-content div id = div-gpt line-height:0;font-size:0 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members in Andhra Pradesh have announced their resignation from state cabinet moments after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu asked Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ministers to resign from the Union Cabinet.Soon after Naidu s press conference BJP MLA Akula Satyanarayana spoke to media and announced that the two BJP ministers in the state cabinet namely Kamineni Srinivas and Paidikondala Manikyala Rao will resign on Thursday morning. He said both Srinivas and Manikyala Rao would not attend the cabinet meeting to be held on Thursday morning.Meanwhile BJP leader Krishna Sagar Rao on Wednesday called Naidu s announcement a political opportunism . BJP believes what has happened tonight is a classic case of political opportunism and a case of compulsive politics Rao told ANI.He also called Naidu s statement that the central government was not standing up to support Andhra Pradesh a blatant lie .Earlier on Wednesday night Naidu directed two Telugu Desam Party ministers to resign from Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led cabinet amid the growing strain in ties between his party and the Bharatiya Janata Party over alleged neglect of the state in the Union Budget.Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y. S. Chowdary are the two ministers who have been asked to resign from their respective offices. This is our right. The Centre is not fulfilling the promises it made said Naidu who has been urging the Centre to give special category status to Andhra Pradesh.Naidu s reaction came after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said no to chief minister s demand earlier in the day.(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
19:29 (IST) Unfair to say Centre did nothing for Andhra Pradesh: TDP MPs YS Choudhary said that the issue of special category status was very emotive for Andhra Pradesh but the Centre did not address it and added that even the special package was not adequate. Choudhary however said that it would be unfair to say that the Centre did nothing for the state.
Hours after a BJP office in Tamil Nadu was attacked party National Secretary H. Raja on Wednesday expressed regret for his Facebook post that said statues of rationalist movement founder E.V.Ramasamy or Periyar would be razed to the ground in the state. Early on Wednesday a petrol bomb was hurled at a BJP office around 500 km from here in Coimbatore by unidentified persons. Later in a fresh Facebook post on Wednesday Raja expressed his heartfelt regret for his Tuesday s post which he claimed was a message posted by his social media administrator without his permission and hence he had removed it. Raja expressed regret if his post had hurt anybody s feelings. According to him damaging the statues of Ramasamy is not agreeable. The message that was posted and later removed said: Who is Lenin? What is the connection between him (Lenin) and India? What connection between communism and India? Lenin s statue was broken down in Tripura. Today it is Lenin s statue in Tripura and tomorrow it will be the statue of caste fanatic E.V.Ramasamy. Late on Tuesday two persons were arrested in Thirupattur in Vellore district for vandalising Ramasamy s statue. The attackers at the BJP s office in Coimbatore had come in a three wheeler and had thrown the petrol bomb inside the office. Police are investigating the case.
The Big Story: Statutory warningsAfter a number of statues were vandalised this week starting with Lenin in Tripura where the Bharatiya Janata Party just scored a big electoral victory the Central leadership was firm in its response. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the statue toppling spree warning of stern action . Party president Amit Shah also said he had spoken to the state units in Tamil Nadu and Tripura and that any person associated with the BJP involved in destroying statues would face severe action . Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called the Tripura governor and senior police officials asking them to maintain order till the new government was sworn in. As more statues were defaced in Tripura the Centre asked states to investigate attacks. The vandalisation had travelled from Tripura to Tamil Nadu and then to West Bengal where a bust of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee was blackened in alleged retaliation by Left supporters. So it was commendable that the top leadership stepped in made strong statements and took measures to keep the trouble from spreading. It appears however that the party has not lost its old habit of speaking in mixed voices. Earlier BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav had tweeted appreciatively about the statue toppling in Tripura though he later deleted the tweet. Tripura governor Tathagata Roy who seems to make no secret of his saffron loyalties continues to cheer on the statue toppling. Tamil Nadu BJP leader H Raja s Facebook post seemed to incite the vandalisation of Periyar statues in the state though he also took it down later. In spite of the stern warnings of the prime minister and party president no action will be taken against him. But the BJP has a history of double speak. After the Dadri lynching of 2015 for instance when a man was murdered for allegedly eating beef the party s top leadership had kept silent for months. While one leader at the Centre condemned it another tried to call the brutal crime a misunderstanding or an accident . All the time BJP state-level leaders and workers spewed hate and cheered on the guilty. It had taken quite a while for the prime minister to speak then. Indeed the party top brass s prompt and unequivocal response now is in striking contrast to its reticence on lynchings and attacks by cow vigilantes where human lives were at stake. Modi took more than a week to break his silence on Dadri and even then it was an oblique reference at a political rally rather than a direct condemnation. On cow vigilantes he first said 80% were fake implying that some were genuine and legitimate. It was almost two years after the Dadri lynching that he said killing in the name of the cow was unacceptable. It has been argued that the BJP moved swiftly now to protect its own interests. In Tripura where it had claimed victory over the politics of violence statue toppling did not sit well. In Tamil Nadu where the party is trying to expand its base and reach out to backward communities attacks on Periyar considered founder of the Dravidian Self-Respect Movement could only damage the BJP s image. Political parties will of course act to protect their interests. But an elected government which is responsible for the security of all citizens not merely those who vote for it should perhaps be less selective. As it asks affected states to investigate vandalisations could the Centre also ask others to speed up justice in the lynching cases?The Big ScrollRohan venkataramakrishnan asks whether a toppled statue and warnings to the Supreme Court make acche din.Ipsita Chakravarty reminds that statue toppling is not a democratic sport.Vinita Govinfarajan explains the BJP s animosity towards Periyar and his statues.Punditry1. In the Indian Express Christophe Jaffrelot writes that Karnataka offers an alternative trajectory based on growth and the closing of social religious gaps.2. In the Hindu Gopalkrishna Gandhi warns against Operation Dhakka .3. In the Economic Times TK Arun writes on the lessons these North East elections hold for political parties.GigglesLenin 2.0. # cartoon @timesofindia ##Lenin #TripuraViolence pic.twitter.com/QlXimbAZQD Sandeep Adhwaryu (@CartoonistSan) March 7 2018 Don t miss...Sahana Ghosh writes on the alarming levels of pangolin poaching in India and the urgent need to study the species:Dubbing the number of pangolins illegally traded in India as alarming experts say the estimated total of 5 772 animals is likely to be an underestimate as only a fraction of illegal wildlife trade is detected and the actual number is likely to be far higher.Pangolins commonly referred to as scaly anteaters are reported to be among the most trafficked wildlife species globally the report emphasises. The mammals are mostly poached for their meat and scales.
ALSO READ TN minister condemns BJP leader s Periyar remarks BJP s Raja invites ire of TN parties for social media post TN incubation ground of terror activities: BJP Kamal s political entry will not http://kkflipkart.blogue.fr/ impact us: Panneeerselvam TN BJP sacks functionary for vandalising Periyar statue span.p-content div id = div-gpt line-height:0;font-size:0 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu president Tamilisai Soundararajan expelled R Muthuraman party functionary on Wednesday.Muthuraman was arrested for vandalising the statue of social reformer Periyar (EV Ramasamy) at Thirupathur in Vellore district. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also strongly disapproved incidents of vandalism reported from several parts of the country.Meanwhile Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working President MK Stalin also demanded the arrest of H Raja following his now deleted controversial post on Facebook in which the latter had written that the statue of Periyar would be razed just like Vladimir Lenin s statue in Tripura.The post read Who is Lenin and what is the connection between Lenin and India? What connection has India with Communists? Lenin s statue has been removed in Tripura. Today it is Lenin s statue in Tripura tomorrow it will be the statue of caste fanatic EVR Ramasamy. Raja however apologised for the same by saying that the post was done by one of the administrators of his page without his permission.(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Prime Minister speaks to TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu

Just a few months before the Lok Sabha election 2004 the BJP had held its national executive in Hyderabad to chart out the future course of action. Chandrababu Naidu was then the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. He was at the peak of his popularity as a cyber CM and a certain flamboyance that literally intimidated friends and foes alike. His shadow loomed large even on the BJP s national executive and Naidu was in the habit of making good use of any opportunity for public relations. Knowing fully well that the national media would be in attendance in Hyderabad to cover the BJP event Naidu sent a message that he would come to address the media. Needless to point out Naidu hogged the limelight at the expense of the BJP executive much to the chagrin of party strategists. File image of Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Prime Minister Narendera Modi. PTI This awe for Naidu and his flamboyance was the touchstone of the coalition between the two parties. Ever since Naidu joined the NDA in 1998 he had a unique leverage with the BJP leadership particularly with prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and home minister LK Advani. Both of them were quite indulgent towards him with the belief that BJP was constricted by its ideological limitation to go across the Vindhyas and make inroads in southern India. http://aquaticdynasty22.spruz.com/profile/kkflipkart/ Moreover the BJP once had a president in M Venkaiah Naidu who was overawed by Naidu. Chandrababu Naidu used the BJP s perceived vulnerability to the hilt and always exploited the situation to his advantage. Remember the manner in which Chandrababu arm-twisted Venkaiah Naidu to grant the maximum share of food grains to Andhra Pradesh even at the expense of other states. Similarly in the corridors of power his method of extracting the maximum from the NDA coalition government was the stuff of legend. Back then Narendra Modi was not a big leader as he had just taken over as the chief minister of Gujarat in 2001 and his image was sullied in some quarters by the post-Godhra riots. But Modi had keenly watched the manner in which Naidu had often been coercing the BJP leadership to fall in line in the name of the coalition even if it caused damage to the organic growth of BJP in the state. Since Modi was not in a leadership role he did not come in the way of the party leadership s self-limiting perception of state politics. In playing the brinkmanship game once again now Chandrababu might run the risk of mistaking the Modi-Amit Shah combine for the Vajpayee-Advani duo. Things have changed drastically. Unlike Vajpayee and Advani who were quite convinced of the party s inability to grow in the south and had sought an alliance with regional groups Modi and Shah outright reject any idea of such an affliction for the BJP. On the contrary they believe in encouraging an organic and robust growth of the party which must not be encumbered by the coalition partners in certain states. This is the precise the reason why Shiv Sena the oldest ally of the BJP has been facing trouble in Maharashtra. The Modi-Shah leadership is wary of the fact that the bad deeds of the alliance partners often hamper the growth of the BJP as it happened in Punjab. The party leadership has evolved a strategy not to be hampered by alliance partners incapacities. The Modi-Shah definition of coalition dharma is distinctly different from the good old days of the Vajpayee-Advani era. At the same time memories have also been playing a critical role in defining the contours of the new NDA coalition. Chandrababu is seen to be in the habit of running after minority votes as the election draws near. Even when the NDA lost elections in 2004 and he was routed in Andhra Chandrababu blamed his alliance with the BJP for his defeat. However the reality was starkly different. He lost it because of his sheer flamboyance that convinced him of his electoral infallibility under the image of a suave and cyber-savvy chief minister. His party the TDP badly lost in rural Andhra Pradesh while YS Rajasekhara Reddy of the Congress had emerged as the new hero who subdued Naidu for a major part of a decade till his death in a chopper crash in 2009. Apparently Naidu s posturing comes from his own political insecurities. Given the all-around decimation of regional parties across the country he fears that a resurgent BJP may relegate him to an extreme background position which does not align with his usual political flamboyance of the past. And if he loses the election he would run the risk of being a relic and be replaced by a new genre of politicians in Andhra Pradesh. The Modi-Shah duo may just have called his bluff this time. Their steadfast refusal to bend to his demands seems to show they have a plan for Andhra without Naidu.
.story-content span .story-content p .story-content div color:#000!important;font-family: open sans Arial!important;font-size:15px!important span.p-content div id = div-gpt line-height:0;font-size:0 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday tried to break the stalemate over the special status tussle between the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government by speaking to Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu over phone. The government failed to placate its upset ally Telegu Desam Party (TDP) as two TDP ministers Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Minister of State for Science and Technology Y S Chowdary submitted their resignations on Thursday morning over Centre s refusal to grant Special Category Status to the state. The two TDP ministers are set to meet Modi at 6 pm today. #Delhi: Aviation Minister & TDP MP AG Raju arrives at YS Chowdary s residence. Both the TDP ministers will meet PM Modi at 6 PM. pic.twitter.com/GqmpXLQeC3 ANI (@ANI) March 8 2018 After N Chandrababu Naidu asked TDP ministers to resign from the Union Cabinet two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers in the state Cabinet State Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas and State Endowment Minister Pydikondala Manikyala Rao also submitted their resignations. This is the first step. We will go ahead with other actions later Naidu said. You are holding the hand of the North Eastern states but not Andhra Pradesh s. You are giving industrial incentives to them not to Andhra Pradesh. Why this discrimination? TDP was an ally of the BJP during the NDA-I years from 1998 to 2004 and then again from 2014 onwards. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday promised that funding equivalent to special-category status would be provided to Andhra Pradesh. He said granting the status to any state except for Northeast and three hilly provinces would not be constitutionally possible after the implementation of the 14th Finance Commission. For special category status the Centre gives 90 per cent of the funds required in a centrally sponsored scheme (CSS) as against 60 per cent in case of normal category states. The remaining is provided by the state government. The Centre committed to provide 90 per cent of the funds through external agencies like World Bank the Naidu government wanted the funds to come through National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (Nabard). Here are the top 10 developments around Chandrababu Naidu pulling the TDP out of the NDA: 1) Classic case of opportunistic politics: BJP considers it as a classic case of opportunistic politics by Chandrababu Naidu. It s also politics of convenience Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao said. In 2018 one year before the elections again he (Naidu) withdraws conveniently. The very reason for his withdrawal is to ensure that the BJP does not grow by itself and acquire equity politically in Andhra Pradesh Rao told PTI. On what the BJP s approach should now be vis-a-vis TDP he appeared to indicate that the Naidu-led outfit would snap ties with the NDA. We also look at this event (TDP s decision to quit the NDA government) which happened yesterday as an opportunity for the BJP to rise in Andhra Pradesh by itself Rao said. We look at it as a silver lining and as a historic opportunity to disconnect from the TDP and give the BJP a clear and open chance to grow itself (in Andhra Pradesh) and to get the kind of mandate which people across the country have given to BJP state after state. He alleged that the issue of special category status (SCS) is being used to mislead the people. 2) Rajya Sabha adjourned: Rajya Sabha proceedings were washed out for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday amid uproar by opposition members and those from the NDA ally TDP over special category status. Several members raised slogans forcing Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to adjourn the House till 2 pm. 3) Chandrababu Naidu alleges discrimination by Centre: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said that Jaitley s statement on Wednesday that his state could not be granted a special-category status was not good news agency ANI reported. You are holding hand of the North Eastern states but not Andhra Pradesh s. You are giving industrial incentives to them not to Andhra Pradesh. Why this discrimination? Naidu said in the state Assembly. What Arun Jaitley spoke yesterday is not good. You are holding hand of the North Eastern states but not Andhra Pradesh s. You are giving industrial incentives to them not to Andhra Pradesh. Why this discrimination?: #AndhraPradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu in state assembly pic.twitter.com/1RtJsx7sRt ANI (@ANI) March 8 2018 TDP MP YS Chowdary and Ashok Gajapathi Raju will give a statement in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha respectively according to news agency ANI. Commenting on the BJP-TDP split YS Chowdary said it was not a good move but unfortunately due to unavoidable circumstances he and Gajapathi Raju were stepping down as ministers. Our President said that we will continue to be a partner of NDA. We are most likely to meet PM also he added. It is not a good move but unfortunately due to unavoidable circumstances we re stepping down as ministers. Our President said that we will continue to be a partner of NDA. We are most likely to meet PM also: YS Chowdary Union Minister TDP pic.twitter.com/wg1YUkEGB0 ANI (@ANI) March 8 2018 4) Two BJP ministers in Andhra government submit resignation: Amid deteriorating ties between TDP and BJP two BJP ministers in the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet submitted their resignations at the Chief Minister s office on Thursday. The ministers who have submitted their resignation from Chandrababu Naidu s Cabinet are State Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas and State Endowment Minister Pydikondala Manikyala Rao. The BJP MLAs were given ministerial berths as coalition partner. Two #BJP ministers in AP govt. submit resignation Read @ANI story | https://t.co/cDMafCAOkS pic.twitter.com/oPrfz3Upto ANI Digital (@ani_digital) March 8 2018 Earlier BJP leader P V N Madhav had told news agencies Our ministers will resign from Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Cabinet. Madhav had said We have decided that our ministers will resign from TDP Cabinet. We will be going to the people and telling them all the things Centre has done for the state. Since independence till date no state has received as many favours as those that were given to Andhra Pradesh. 5) TDP MPs protest outside Parliament: Continuing with their demands for their state TDP MPs on Thursday protested inside the Parliament premises for granting special-category status to Andhra Pradesh news agency ANI reported. Delhi: TDP MPs protest inside Parliament premises over special category status to Andhra Pradesh pic.twitter.com/tKNTOyPq9f ANI (@ANI) March 8 2018 TDP MP Ram Mohan Naidu told news agency ANI: It s the decision we took after Arun Jaitley s statement . Naidu said that when the TDP was asking for its right it could not be rejected. Alliance is still under negotiation. We don t want to make it a political fight between TDP and BJP but a fight for the state he added. The TDP was not alone though. YSR Congress MPs also protested outside Parliament on Thursday for granting special-category status to Andhra Pradesh according to news agency ANI. Delhi: YSR Congress MPs protest outside Parliament over special category status to #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/GqZE9wVeP2 ANI (@ANI) March 8 2018 6) Two TDP ministers resign from Modi Cabinet: Our ministers in the central Cabinet have resigned N Chandrababu Naidu said on Thursday in the state Assembly. The two TDP ministers in the Modi government on Wednesday night were instructed to resign from the Union Cabinet on Thursday by Chandrababu Naidu. The TDP ministers concerned are Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Minister of State for Science and Technology Y S Chowdary. According to sources while Naidu consulted with his party legislators in Amaravati Civil Aviation Minister Raju attended the Wednesday meeting of the Union Cabinet. According to news agencies nearly all TDP legislators and Members of Parliament (MPs) urged Naidu to walk out of the NDA. ALSO READ: 2 TDP ministers to resign from Union Cabinet today: Andhra CM Naidu On Wednesday Naidu had said that Jaitley s announcement was the last straw for him. Following mounting pressure from the Opposition the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister had repeatedly insisted on a special category status for his state. Naidu added that Jaitley s statement was nothing but insulting to the TDP. The TDP supremo and chief minister added that as a courtesy he had tried to speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the phone to inform him about the decision to pull out of the NDA government. It is my responsibility as a coalition partner to inform the prime minister about our party s decision. My OSD spoke to his OSD but the prime minister did not come on line he said. Naidu said Jaitley s comments suggested that Andhra Pradesh was asking for too much. He also slammed the finance minister for saying sentiments will not decide the quantum of funds . He said that he made 29 trips to Delhi met with Prime Minister Modi and other ministers and tried to do his best to do justice to his state. I am not angry with anybody he added. Naidu hoped that at least now the Centre would respect the sentiment of Andhra Pradesh s people. 7) Jaitley rejects demand for special-category status: On Wednesday ahead of the TDP-BJP split Finance Minister Arun Jaitley promised Andhra Pradesh funds equivalent to what a special-category state would receive. At a press conference Jaitley said that his government and the Centre were committed to meeting all the promises made to Andhra at the time of the creation of Telangana which was carved out of Andhra four years ago. However he rejected Naidu s demand for special-category status for the state. After the implementation of the 14th Finance Commission recommendation giving special category status as demanded by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to any state apart from those in the Northeast and three hilly provinces was not constitutionally possible Jaitley said. ALSO READ: Can t give Andhra Pradesh special status says Jaitley; top 10 developments Jaitley said: Political issues cannot increase the quantum of money because the Centre has no free-floating funds. Every state in India has the right to the central fund in the same manner. Sentiment does not decide quantum of funds it is the constitutional award of the Finance Commission which decides on the quantum of funds that a state gets. In Andhra Pradesh Jaitley said that the Centre had committed 90 per cent of the funds for centrally sponsored schemes. This according to Jaitley was equivalent to the treatment for special-category states. This he said had been done through other means like external agencies including the World Bank. Jaitley said that the state government however wanted funds to be routed through the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. He had added that the Centre was agreeable to that provided that a mechanism was worked out. 8) More actions may be taken by TDP: At present it is not clear whether the TDP will continue to provide outside support to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre. On Wednesday Naidu had said that while the TDP had pulled out of the NDA party-to-party (TDP-BJP ties) issue would be decided on at a later time. According to news agencies this was a hint that the alliance might continue in the future. However while Naidu announced in Amaravati that the two TDP ministers would resign from the Union Cabinet he also said: This is the first step. We will go ahead with other actions later. ALSO READ: Special package for Andhra: Chandrababu Naidu s game plan a repeat of 2004 9) BJP says it went out of its way for Andhra: The BJP has rejected Chandrababu Naidu s charge that the Centre has neglected Andhra Pradesh. The party said that the Centre had not only fulfilled all its obligations but also gone out of its way to help the state. BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao said that the Modi government had worked to ensure that Andhra Pradesh received full resources in the infrastructure and industrial sectors after the bifurcation of the state. Political parties in Andhra Pradesh had been raking up the demand for a special category status for the state without acknowledging that the Centre had offered the state all the benefits without giving this tag which had become redundant after the 14th Finance Commission report Rao said. He added that a special category status had ceased to exist. ALSO READ: Ready to bring no-trust motion against Centre to get justice for AP: Naidu 10) Congress says TDP move too little too late : On Wednesday the Congress said that the TDP s decision to pull out of the NDA government at the Centre was too little too late . The party added that TDP had done nothing to protect Andhra Pradesh s interests in the past four years. This is too little and too late. The TDP has been an ally of the BJP for four years now and has done nothing to protect the interests of Andhra Pradesh senior Congress leader from Andhra Pradesh and former Union minister M M Pallam Raju said. ALSO READ: Budget 2018: BJP ally Chandrababu Naidu unhappy over raw deal to Andhra Earlier this week on Tuesday Congress President Rahul Gandhi batted for a special-category status for Andhra Pradesh. The Congress President announced this after he joined a protest at Jantar Mantar demanding a special status for the state. MPs of the TDP and the Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) had staged the protest. Gandhi told the TDP and YSRCP MPs that the Congress party was in favour of granting a special status to Andhra Pradesh. He added that if the Congress came to power in 2019 it would ensure the same. This afternoon I joined the protests at Jantar Mantar demanding Special Status for Andhra Pradesh. It is my belief that if the opposition stands united on this issue we can force the BJP Govt to do justice to the people of Andhra.#INCStandsWithAndhra pic.twitter.com/sbNqHcEeTW Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) March 6 2018 Later he tweeted that the united Opposition could force the BJP-led Union government to do justice to the people of Andhra Pradesh. .
HYDERABAD: Three and a half years of bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh the two Telugu CMs are at different political crossroads. While Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is firmly ensconced in his throne and pitching for a kingmaker s role at the Centre post-2019 elections his counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu is fighting for survival. Six months ago the two CMs appeared to be in the same boat. Occasionally sparring on water sharing issues they were both busy and in control of their state governments and things appeared hunky dory for both of them in the run-up to the next elections. But the last few weeks saw Naidu and KCR take different political paths one downhill and the other uphill. In KCR s case he appears confident that the TRS will come back to power in 2019 on its own. Smug in that belief he surprised one and all two weeks ago by announcing that he will float a federal front minus the BJP and the Congress. And within hours he was in touch with other leaders like Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and the like. Now he is slated to hop across the country and meet various leaders in his bid to open up a new political front. In contrast Naidu s house has been witnessing a stormy battle. Upstaged by YSR Congress president Jaganmohan Reddy on the Special Category Status (SCS) issue for the last few weeks he has been forced to up the ante with his ally BJP which has now culminated in a cul-de-sac for him with the resignation of two TDP ministers at the Centre and that of an equal number of the BJP from the state cabinet. Naidu now has to deal with issues on several fronts like negotiating Jagan and the BJP politically and ensuring that he has the confidence of the electorate in order to be re-elected to power. And on both these fronts he is abit shaky. While one chief minister is looking at sunny days ahead the other has to brace for trying times and aim to weather them through.
The erstwhile Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government did not do justice to Andhra Pradesh while bifurcating the state in 2014 but the current central government is not even fulfilling the promises made by the Congress Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu told CR Sukumar in an interview. Naidu whose Telugu Desam Party is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance said the Centre should accord Andhra Pradesh special category status and attendant benefits as it is doing in the case of some other states. Edited excerpts: You came to power amid a lot of hopes and expectations of people of Andhra Pradesh. How do you assess your progress? The state bifurcation was not done scientifically. Andhra Pradesh is left without a capital city educational and healthcare institutions industries and income resources. It was not just injustice but Andhra people were also insulted. People punished the Congress for that. With all my experience as chief minister of combined Andhra Pradesh for nine years and as Opposition leader for 10 years I have started the journey of rebuilding the state. There were promises made under the bifurcation Act by the then United Progressive Alliance government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the poll campaign at Tirupati and other places in 2014 gave hope on many issues including support for a world-class capital city for Andhra. Congress did injustice and we hoped BJP as our alliance partner would do justice. I have visited New Delhi 29 times in the past three and a half years asking that promises made under bifurcation Act and assurances made in Parliament be fulfilled. What is the progress in fulfilling these promises? They didn t give special category status. The nominal industrial incentives that they gave to Andhra and Telangana are unattractive. The division of institutions and assets under Schedule IX and X has not been completed yet. The deficit finance is not given. Why is the Centre not acceding to Andhra Pradesh s requests? I am unable to understand. They should answer. I supported them in all their major reform initiatives in the spirit of cooperative federalism. I supported initiatives like demonetisation and GST (goods and services tax). I was even the convenor for digital economy and submitted recommendations. I am not seeking any favours. Whatever was promised under the AP State Reorganisation Act are the legitimate rights of people of Andhra. People of Andhra were not happy even with those promises made under the bifurcation Act in 2014 and assurances by the Congress and punished it. The current government is not implementing even those promises. What are the options that you are now considering? I will continue to fight for the legitimate rights of people of Andhra. Secondly I may have to take political decisions also accordingly. I will have to arouse people of Andhra to work hard further. Otherwise we will suffer badly. The two leading national parties at the Centre Congress and BJP shouldn t have handled the issues of states like this. They should have been more responsible and sensitive in the interest of the nation. BJP may be thinking that they will not lose anything in Andhra. Elections are held every five years and parties in the government keep changing. You cannot discriminate against districts or states that didn t vote for you. We should think in terms of national interest. Why did you make a U-turn on the special category status by accepting a special package? There was no U-turn. It was a mistake committed by the government of India. They told me that they are not giving special category status to any state. They offered to give us special assistance similar to special category status. Now they are extending the special category status to some states. We are asking them to extend it to us also and not to discriminate. What they are doing is not correct. Why should people of Andhra be deprived of special category status? Give us also the benefits and the status of special category. What is your appeal to BJP now? As a politician who has seen ups and downs of various political parties in this country over the past four decades I appeal to both the BJP and Congress not to offend the sentiments of people of Andhra and deprive them in the interest of the nation. I am appealing to both of them to correct themselves and their mistakes.
HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu will address a mega public meeting at Khammam next month. The party chief has decided to dedicate at least one or two days in a week to review the party activities in Telangana mainly to strengthen the party and restore the past glory to the party in Telangana. Naidu assured the party leaders during his two day meetings with Telangana TDP leaders held on February 28 and March 1. TDP in Telangana lost its sheen for quite some time especially after many party leaders and MLAs left the party and joined either Telangana Rashtra Samithi or Congress. Naidu also didn t tour Telangana for the past two years especially after the cash for vote scam. In the recent past TDP has taken up programmes such as Palle Palle Ku Telugu Desam and even taken up agitational programmes on various issues. But they could not stop migration of cadre from TDP to other political parties. Now with the Lok Sabha elections due either by the end of this year or in the first quarter of 2019 the Telangana TDP boss has decided to strengthen the party and revive its glory. Chandrababu Naidu who is camping in Hyderabad for the past two days held meeting with the party politburo and central committee on Thursday. He directed the party leaders to strengthen the party from the grass root level. Naidu on Wednesday addressed the party general body and dismissed reports that his party will be merged either with the TRS or any other party in Telangana. He made these remarks in the wake of TDP leader Mothkupalli Narsimhulu making such a suggestion. Interestingly Narsimhulu did not come to the party leaders meet. Our party president has directed us to continue the party programme palle palleku TDP to reach out to people in all the villages till March 29. He also asked us to fill up party district presidents in Sanga Reddy Nizamabad Karimnagar Sircilla and Peddapally districts which are lying vacant for the past few months Telangana TDP president L Ramana told TOI. Since the party still has cadre in almost all the Assembly constituencies in Telangana both local and state party leaders will frequently interact with them Ramana said.
By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: March 2 2018 5:07 pm Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu. (Express Photo by Nirmal Harindran/File) Related News TDP pulls out ministers from Centre but softens stance to keep lines openIn Fact: Challenges of special status and problems in implementing itTDP walks out of Govt: Why fallout poses a challenge to BJP s numbers count for 2019Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday reiterated his demand for a special category status underlining that the state will only be financially stable if all assurances given in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 were fulfilled and implemented. Even after 4 years of bifurcation AP is suffering. Congress faced the wrath of people as they did injustice now people are thinking if BJP will follow the same course. We accepted special assistance as the Centre said there are problems with Special Category Status Naidu was quoted as saying by ANI. He was addressing the TDP Parliamentary Board meeting. The Centre is giving Special Category Status to other states. How? In such a case we too need SCS. YSRCP is speaking of SCS but leaving rest 18 points. SCS alone is not enough all points in the act must be implemented. Only then AP will be financially stable he said while maintaining that the state was given a raw deal and it is encountering problems. In September last year Naidu had accepted the special package announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. For the first time Naidu however directly raised the special status issue last week saying that the special category status is the state s right and that they will continue to fight for it. He further said that in the last three-and-a-half years Andhra Pradesh achieved a lot of growth but it would have done much better had all the promises made in Parliament were fulfilled. ALSO READ | Broken promise funds crunch: Why Andhra CM N Chandrababu Naidu is angry The ruling TDP has been forced to take a tough stand on the special category status issue after the Opposition YSRCP has stepped up its campaign. Since the Union Budget was presented leaders of the TDP and BJP have been trading accusations over central assistance with the former alleging that Andhra Pradesh had been ignored. CM had also threatened to bring a no-confidence motion against the Centre in Parliament to demand justice albeit as a last resort . For all the latest India News download Indian Express App IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd More Related News Andhra denied special category status: TDP walks out of Govt puts NDA on notice ahead of 2019 Upset over denial of special status for Andhra Chandrababu Naidu pulls out TDP ministers from Modi cabinet Tags: Chandrababu Naidu Nitie VerlekarMar 3 2018 at 1:42 amNo state in India should get special category status. Everyone needs to work hard to come up on their own. Funds given by central govt should be used for welfare of the society not to fill up the politicians pockets. Kashmir s special status should be revoked too. India is a country which needs to teach the world that diversity is a strength. May God give better understanding of humanity to everyone soon.(1)(1) ReplySekhar AMar 3 2018 at 2:52 amU .. First understand on what basis AP is divided.First let s transfer RBI stock exchanges to south so that half of bombay will be empty.(1)(0) Reply Raman KayMar 2 2018 at 11:37 pmOK we will give him special category! You are in the category of dumb and a moron. There nailed it!(1)(1) ReplySekhar AMar 3 2018 at 2:57 am...dont post u r comments with out understanding on what circumustances AP got bifurcated.(0)(0) Reply Sriram KalpathiMar 2 2018 at 10:54 pmThe CM of Andhra is nowhere when compared with the CM of Telangana. The people will drop him if he does not bring results.(0)(1) ReplyVenkat PokkunuriMar 3 2018 at 12:54 amI am from Andhra telangana -HYD is nothing HYD was developed by Andhra people and our CM only. coming to your point telangana CM is just above average CBN is excellent. Telangana CM stands no where in the kind of admin skills leadership qualities and discpline that CBN does have he is a visinory. also TRS MLAS MPS and ministers are dammm corrupt and thugs. they are eating alll prjojects money. also telangana is backward in educaton and in every thing. telangana lands are far lless fetrtile in comparision with andhra lands. also we have vast sea cost which TN doesnt have. dont write nonsense.(3)(8) ReplySekhar AMar 3 2018 at 3:01 amKcr is good for nothing.(0)(0) Reply Venkat PokkunuriMar 2 2018 at 9:55 pmHe is a very good CM but acting alot for no valid reason Andhra is a rich and very progressive state with very fertile lands rivers vast sea coast above alll people are intelligent hard working and highly educated and in many good positions all over country and also overseas. no point in trying to politicise this issue too much and start fighting with center. continous discussions are the only way forward.he knew that there is no way he can win Modi.PM damm care about any blackmailings or abuses he wont get even an appointent if he behaves like this. better he cuts his ego a bit.Modi and Amith shah are not kids to be threatened. he is feeling insecure because of YRCP might have pac with BJP in coming elections and he might loose.(5)(6) ReplyNNAMEMar 3 2018 at 2:50 amDo you call chaotic expansion development?(0)(0) Reply
Written by Sreenivas Janyala | Hyderabad | Updated: March 9 2018 3:09 am TDP should also come out of the NDA alliance and support a no-confidence motion YSRCP will move on March 21. On April 6 all TDP MPs should join us in resigning enmasse YSR Congress Party Jaganmohan Reddy said. Related News Jagan Mohan Reddy to launch YSR Kutumbam campaign on SaturdayChandrababu Naidu should be shot dead for cheating people: YSRCP s Jagan Mohan ReddyPMLA case: ED attaches Jagan Mohan Jagan s assets worth Rs 150 croreA day after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was pulling out its two ministers from the BJP-led government at the Centre YSRCP chief and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has dared Naidu to pull out of the NDA completely. TDP should also come out of the NDA alliance and support a no-confidence motion YSRCP will move on March 21. On April 6 all TDP MPs should join us in resigning enmasse Jagan said Thursday. On Wednesday Naidu had said the party will take a call on pulling out of NDA when the time comes . The announcement had come hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ruled out special status to Andhra Pradesh. According to political commentators Naidu has stolen Jagan s thunder by asking the two ministers to resign. In Parliament Assembly and across Andhra the TDP is now being seen as champion of the special status issue instead of YSRCP which built up the campaign last year and created pressure on TDP to act says political commentator C Narasimha. With Jaitley categorically stating that there is no question of giving special status to Andhra Pradesh Jagan s plans to join hands with BJP are no longer viable. There is no question of going back on the special category status demand. It is a lifeline for Andhra Pradesh which is suffering due to the bifurcation. The Congress promised it but failed to incorporate it in the AP Reorganisation Act 2014. The BJP supported and made announcements on the House floor it would ensure special status is given but changed its stand after coming to power. We hope it will again change its stand. So we will continue to fight said YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Sai Reddy. Asked if TDP has upstaged YSRCP on the special category issue Reddy said Naidu has changed his stand so many times that no one will believe him now. While Naidu had accepted the special package announced by Jaitley on September 7 2016 YSRCP kept raising the issue of the special category status. During his Praja Sankalpa Yatra last year Jagan accused Naidu of compromising interests of the state by accepting the special package. When Jagan announced on February 13 that all YSRCP MPs would resign on April 6 if the Centre doesn t give special status to AP the TDP was forced to act. According to analysts the high-pitched drama in the last two days climaxing in the resignation of Union Ministers from TDP P Ashok Gajapati Raju and Y Satyanarayana Chowdary have created an anti-BJP feeling in the state which might benefit YSRCP. For all the latest India News download Indian Express App More Related News Jagan fast: Is his demand for Andhra Pradesh s special status just a publicity stunt? Jagan Reddy refuses to be part of Naidu s pompous swearing-in programme Tags: Jagan Mohan Reddy No Comments.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the focus of his government is now on attracting investments into manufacturing. Ahead of the CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam Naidu told ET s CR Sukumar that the state has already received investment interest worth over Rs 5 lakh crore. Edited excerpts: How do you compare Chandrababu Naidu 2.0 with your earlier stint in terms of attracting investments?I was an active participant in India s key economic reforms including the third industrial revolution and now the fourth industrial revolution. I had attracted large investments into information technology and built infrastructure in Hyderabad including India s first greenfield airport apart from attracting the country s first private sector investments in power generation. I also played a key role in landmark reforms in the roads and telecommunications sectors in the country. In my current tenure as chief minister I am more aggressive assertive and progressive in my vision on real-time governance and in reaching out to the common man thanks to matured technology that enables me to monitor progress in all sectors. How is attracting investments different now?I had focused on information technology in the combined state and the focus this time round in Andhra Pradesh is on attracting large-scale investments into manufacturing sector. The investments being brought in this time are much larger compared with my earlier stints and also the highest ever in multiple sectors. In all we had signed 1 946 investment agreements worth ?13.54 lakh crore covering 18 sectors. In the automobile sector alone we could attract over ?30 000 crore of investments. Some of the investors include Kia Motors Hero Motors and Isuzu and ecosystem players like Bharat Forge Apollo Tyres and Ceat Tyres. Electronics hardware is another key sector that we are focussing on. Reliance group s Mukesh Ambani is going to set up a large manufacturing facility at Tirupati to make 1million Jio mobile handsets a year. He will set up a 130 MW solar plant. He along with British Petroleum will make large investments in KG basin s D6 block. Ambani is also interested in setting up a large startup incubation facility and a venture capital fund. He has shown interest in investing in the agro processing sector which we are promoting aggressively. The investment details will be announced at the ensuing Partnership Summit through MoUs. We are also attracting large-scale investments into aerospace and defence. I am drawing my inspiration from resource-constrained developed nations like Japan South Korea Singapore and Dubai https://www.diigo.com/item/note/6edag/o5wp?k=cb10ccb3132433ec00db335db84208f6 in attracting global investments. Compared with them Andhra Pradesh has more resources to leverage on. There has been hype around investment summits in general and those organised by you in particular. How many of your investment agreements could really get converted into reality in terms of production and employment? I can proudly say that my success rate is more than 50% which is considered the highest for any state in India through partnership summits. What are your investment expectations from this partnership summit? It is a continuous brand promotion exercise and we have received interest for over ?5 lakh crore of investments so far for this summit. I had organised four such partnership summits in the combined Andhra Pradesh and three consecutively this time round. I have a record here again organising seven out of 25 partnership summits in the country with one-third share the highest for any chief minister. I also hold the record of highest success rate of converting MoUs into actual investments in the country. Do you think incentives associated with special category status to Andhra would have helped attract more investments? Naturally. Even with lots of constraints post bifurcation of the state we managed to attract many investors. Tax incentives could have helped us attract investments without struggling so much.