Naidu Takes U Turn Despite Settling For Special Package: Rajnath Singh 

Guntur: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who was here to inaugurate the BJP State Headquarters at Mangalagiri, criticised AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for taking a U-Turn in his stance to support the NDA coalition. He said that Naidu was creating a big fuss about Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh and trying to gain political mileage out of the issue despite settling for the Special Package given by the Centre.

Referring to news reports in which the Chief Minister thanked the Prime Minister for a special focus on the State for four years when he was an ally of the NDA, Singh said the special package was Chandrababu Naidu's demand and Prime Minister was fully committed to the development of the State. Accordingly, PM Modi gave “special treatment” to AP.

Listing out various measures taken by the Centre for the development of the State since bifurcation he said:

Against four battalions of reserve police to Telangana, eight were given to AP.

For Amaravati development, the State received Rs 1,500 crore in addition to Rs 1000 crores for the development of Vijayawada and Guntur.

Of Rs 7,158 crore spent on Polavaram project, Rs 6,764 crore was released by the Centre.

Similarly, the Centre gave Rs 1,050 crore for backward region development.

The Centre released Rs 6,760 crore for the construction of Polavaram project so far. Rajnath Singh further alleged that the Chief Minister offered to take up the construction of Polavaram project only to pocket commissions from contractors.

AP was given special assistance package by approving Rs 8,140 crore worth Externally Aided Projects in 2016 and Rs 20,000 crore worth of projects were in the pipeline.

The Centre had sanctioned Rs 1,050 crore for the development of backward districts and set up AIIMS at Mangalagiri town, Agriculture University and other Central institutions besides taking up the construction of Vizag–Chennai industrial corridor.

Apart from this, the Government was keen on eliminating the Maoist problem and has taken stringent steps to help the State in doing so.

Despite all these measures, Chandrababu Naidu backed the Congress Party. However, it served him no purpose as the Congress was on the verge of extinction, he stated.

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