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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Concerns of Andhra Pradesh ignored: TDP
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Concerns of Andhra Pradesh ignored: TDP

Divisions surfaced in the ruling coalition on Wednesday when the TDP said the concerns of AP had been ignored

Senior leaders of the TDP said Chandrababu Naidu had held three meetings between January and February with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but the concerns hadn’t been addressed by the centre. Photo: MintPremium
Senior leaders of the TDP said Chandrababu Naidu had held three meetings between January and February with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but the concerns hadn’t been addressed by the centre. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: A day after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government accepted the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, divisions surfaced in the ruling coalition on Wednesday when the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) said the concerns of Andhra Pradesh had been ignored.

The Commission recommended an increase in the states’ share of net tax receipts of the central government to 42% from 32% during the five-year period starting 2015-16, but was silent on the concerns of Andhra Pradesh, which was in June last year divided in two with statehood granted to the Telangana region.

The Commission also changed the weights based on which states are allocated funds. It introduces 2011 population (10%) and forest cover (7.5%) as two new criteria while did away with fiscal discipline. As a result, many big states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have lost out.

“The Finance Commission hasn’t made any specific award for Andhra Pradesh though it acknowledged that we suffered fiscal damage due to bifurcation. The Finance Commission hasn’t taken care of development needs of Andhra Pradesh and treated Andhra Pradesh on par with other states. It did not help Andhra Pradesh get a level-playing field," the state’s chief minister Chandrababu Naidu said in a post on Twitter.

Senior leaders of the TDP said Naidu had held three meetings between January and February with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but the concerns hadn’t been addressed by the centre.

“We appreciate the devolution of net central taxes but the concerns of Andhra Pradesh have not been answered. Due to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the chief minister had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi three times. In the last meeting between the two leaders on 10 February, Andhra Pradesh chief minister has specifically met the prime minister to talk about this issue only. The state is very disappointed with the development," said Parakala Prabhakar, adviser (communication) to the Andhra Pradesh government.

In a statement released by his government on the Facebook page of the Andhra Pradesh government, it said the central government needs to address the development needs of the state following the creation of Telangana as India’s 29th state.

The state government said that the Finance Commission had addressed only the revenue expenditure needs (administration and maintenance costs of governance) rather than “the massive development requirements of the new state without a capital city, without the ecosystem for development and without major growth engines."

The Andhra government said sharing higher fiscal responsibility for implementation of plan schemes would impose a greater financial burden on the states, diverting considerable amounts from the amounts devolved.

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Published: 25 Feb 2015, 11:26 PM IST
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