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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu is set to apprise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several senior cabinet ministers of the debt crisis gripping his state. Naidu, who would be in Delhi for a couple of days, will also seek central financial assistance based on promises made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
As per the currently available figures, the total debt of Andhra Pradesh, under the previous Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP government, had increased by 67 per cent to Rs 4,42,442 crore as on March-end 2023. The state’s gross fiscal deficit estimated at Rs 55,817.50 crore as on March 31, 2024, had seen a 57 per cent increase from Rs 35,441 crore in 2018-19.
However, TDP sources said that debts acquired by the state are higher than the currently available estimates. “Basically, the state is reeling under debt and we need central assistance,” a TDP leader told The Indian Express.
Accusing the Jagan government of acquiring debt over the past five years, the leader added, “Five years ago we handed over the state to the YSRCP government and they acquired debt without raising revenue”.
Prior to the YSRCP government, the TDP was in power in the state between 2014 and 2019. In 2019, the YSRCP swept the polls and formed the government. The TDP came back to power in the recent elections with a thumping majority. The party, with its 16 Lok Sabha MPs, has also emerged as a major ally of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.
Naidu will meet PM Modi on Thursday morning and seek “financial assistance for the state”, a source said. He will also meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. “In his meeting with Sitharaman, he will present a report on the Polavaram irrigation project, development of capital city of Amaravati and the financial situation of the state,” a top TDP source said. Another TDP leader who will be accompanying Naidu in these visits said, “He will be meeting and greeting almost all the Cabinet ministers of the Union government”.
The Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh, however, does not figure in the wish list of Naidu, multiple party sources told The Indian Express. As states including Odisha and Bihar have been demanding the SCS too, the TDP dispensation thinks it would be best to ask for special financial packages for the state instead of SCS, they said. “Our election campaign mainly promised financial packages for the state and not SCS,” a TDP leader said.
It will be easier for the TDP to land special packages for the state because the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, which was drafted when Telangana state was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, has provisions seeking special packages for Andhra.The Act reads, “The Central government may…make appropriate grants and duly ensure that adequate benefits and incentives in the form of special development packages are given to the backward areas in the (successor) state (of Andhra Pradesh).” The Act also specifies that the Central government shall provide “adequate incentives” for the backward Rayalaseema and north coastal regions of the state.
The Act also states that the Centre “shall provide special financial support for the creation of essential facilities in the new capital of the successor state of AP including Raj Bhawan, high court, government secretariat, legislative assembly, legislative council and such other essential infrastructure.” The 13th schedule of the Act also promises national institutions of higher education, industrial corridors and expansion of airports.
“We will get what is due and pending for the state of Andhra Pradesh,” a TDP source said.
