Statehood can wait, progress cannot: Naidu

With the TDP8217;s three-day conference 8212; Mahanadu 8212; being held in the heart of Telengana, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and part...

With the TDP8217;s three-day conference 8212; Mahanadu 8212; being held in the heart of Telengana, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu today called upon the people not to get carried away by the rhetoric for a separate state, asserting that development of the backward region would be possible only in a unified state under his party8217;s dispensation.

Participating in the discussion on the power reforms on the second day of the Mahanadu here, Naidu said the state was on the path of resurgence in the power sector. 8216;8216;In the next three to four years, we are going to spend about Rs 7,000 crore to strengthen generation, distribution and supply. But the talk of free power might jeopardise all this,8217;8217; he said. The party8217;s resolution said the state has been paying the lowest, 99 paise per unit, as fixed cost to private firms while the cost in other states ranged between 99 paise and Rs 1.88.

On the Telengana issue, the Mahanadu adopted a separate resolution in which it blamed the Congress for the neglect of all backward regions. 8216;8216;The Congress has no moral right to talk about the Telengana or any other backward region as it is the main culprit,8217;8217; the resolution said.

While most of the second day today was devoted to Telengana, delivering the inaugural speech on Monday, Naidu had fervently appealed to all political parties in the country to set aside their differences and support the Centre in dealing with cross-border terror.

Naidu took the opportunity to explain what led him to differ with the NDA Government on the Gujarat issue and forego the Lok Sabha Speaker8217;s post. 8216;8216;We have asked the BJP to remove Narendra Modi who had failed to win the confidence of minorities. But, they refused to do so. For us, power and posts are not important,8217;8217; he said.

He also defended obtaining loans from the World Bank and other external agencies. 8216;8216;Some people criticise me for pushing the state into a debt trap. But the fact is that Andhra has been getting loans at the lowest interest rates compared to other states in India.8221;