Naidu may bargain for SCS, infra projects
Hyderabad: The Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh is back on centre stage with Telugu Desam supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu playing a key role in facilitating the NDA’s third term that too under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi without any hassle.
Naidu is said to have preferred stability at the Centre to derive maximum benefits to Andhra Pradesh and hence threw his weight behind Modi. But, at the same time, he would be under pressure to deliver the much-awaited SCS to the state which Modi denied in the first term. The previous Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy regime, too, gave up its demand for the SCS stating that it was in no position to dictate terms to NDA 2.0.
The issue gets tricky with another regional satrap and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, too, voicing for the SCS the main benefit of which is 30 per cent cut in the state’s matching grant for all Central schemes. The ratio of funding the schemes is 60:40 and the SCS brings down the state’s share to just 10 per cent besides large-scale industrial incentives. As of now, the finance commission abolished the SCS and Modi 3.0 should have to devise another mechanism to extend similar benefits for its own survival.
Meanwhile, party sources said in all likelihood the TD would seek its pound of flush in the Cabinet besides pitching in for big-ticket infrastructure and industrial projects, additional funds for Polavaram and, above all, massive financial assistance for his dream capital city plan of Amaravati. “The stage was set for `10,000 World Bank loan for Amaravati but the previous government wrote to the Centre dropping its proposal to avail the loan. “We have to explore other avenues to raise huge funds for the capital,” sources close to Naidu told Deccan Chronicle.
There were speculations in the national capital about Naidu seeking Lok Sabha Speaker’s post for his party besides a few Cabinet berths given the precedent of then Amalapuram MP G.M.C. Balayogi becoming Speaker twice. The second term ended abruptly following his death in a helicopter crash. K. Ram Mohan Naidu, a third time MP from Srikakulam, known for his best performance in the House and fluency with Hindi and English, will become a natural choice in the event of the TD securing the pivotal post as other MPs are either first-timers or elected twice like in the case of B.K. Parthasarathy and L. Krishna Devarayulu who might be considered for the Union Cabinet berth. The caste equations may also favour Balayogi’s son Harish Mathur and Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy.