29 trips to Delhi and meetings with all, yet no justice for Andhra, CM Naidu hits out at Centre

GUNTUR: Amid the ongoing tussle between Andhra Pradesh government and the Centre, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday claimed that the Narendra Modi government has done injustice to the state. "I visited Delhi 29 times and met everyone several times. Still, justice has not been done. Even in the last budget, they did injustice to Andhra," Naidu said.

Speaking about his ties with ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said that his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had joined hands with the BJP for the betterment of the state which does not seem to be working well. "We went with BJP for the sake of doing justice to the state of Andhra Pradesh. On behalf of 5 crore people of Andhra, I am demanding Centre do justice to the state," he said.

Challenging the Centre for an open debate on why the state needs additional funds, he said "I'm ready for a debate on how much other states got and how much we got. I am demanding the PM and Union Ministers to do justice to Andhra." He even went ahead and said that he is ready to make any sacrifices for justice to Telugus. 

His statement comes at a time when speculations have been rife that TDP may step out of its alliance with the BJP. The ruling TDP government in Andhra Pradesh has been upset with the Narendra Modi government over the funds allotted to the state in the Union Budget. The state has been pressuring the Centre for additional funds to the state.

Taking potshots at the Centre, the TDP had also said that the collection of SS Rajamouli’s film Baahubali was more than what the Centre gave to the state in the Union Budget 2018.

"Rs 1800 crore is what the government gave specifically to Andhra Pradesh in budget and Baahubali's collection is more than that. We received less than what a movie collected. If they (Narendra Modi government) can treat their allies like this, then many people will not want to be their allies in future," TDP leader Jayadev Galla had said.

The TDP is BJP's biggest ally in the South. The two parties had fought the 2014 elections in alliance where the TDP had emerged as the second largest party in the NDA in terms of seats won. 

After Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the Budget on February 1, several TDP leaders had suggested that the party should break away from the alliance.