Hyderabad: Union Minister for urban development and parliamentary affairs M. Venkaiah Naidu said AP need not be agitated over the allocations in the Union Budget and said nothing is wrong with the Budget itself.
Facing a volley of questions at a media conference here on Sunday, he laboured hard to explain that concerns of AP will be taken into consideration and addressed in due course. “I spoke to Chandrababu on Saturday evening and told him to thrash out problems by meeting Union finance Minister Arun Jaitley. I would like to reiterate that all the commitments we made during the course of the passage of the Bifurcation Bill will be addressed,” he said.
On the remarks made by CM that gross injustice was done to AP in the Budget, Venkaiah Naidu said “The CM has every right to express his views. He just expressed his anguish and no criticism has been made in public.”
Mr Naidu admitted that funds allocated for the Polavaram project were insufficient and assured that he would take up the issue with Arun Jaitley.
Reacting to the absence of funds the capital, Mr Venkaiah Naidu said the state government should come up with a specific plan after acquiring land based on which the funds will be released in a phased manner. “The special status issue is not yet over. The state government will get funds department-wise. I have earmarked some funds for AP in my department,” he said.
Mr Naidu has also rejected the criticism that AP got a raw deal in the 14th Finance Commission recommendations. “The Commission, by virtue of its mandate and terms of reference, is only concerned with revenue expenditure. Development expenditure does not come under its purview.”
Mr Naidu faced an irksome situation after being repeatedly asked about the alleged failure in allocation to AP. He lost his cool and said rather sarcastically that he was not that well-informed or mature enough to answer some questions.
