Chandrababu Naidu walked into Cong trap: Rajnath Singh

Guntur: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has unwittingly walked into the Congress' trap and now it is too late for him to retrace his steps.

“The Congress and other Opposition parties are trying to prevent Narendra Modi from becoming Prime Minister for another term and the grand old party’s strategy always has been to turn other parties against Modi,” Rajnath Singh said.

Speaking at a public meeting after laying the foundation stone for the BJP state office at Mangalagiri town through remote control, he described the Congress as a non-performing asset and Naidu as one who shifts his stand often.

"Naidu, after settling for special package, took a U-turn and began demanding special category status for AP, only with an eye on political gain," the Union Home Minister said, but pointed out that the Prime Minister, on the contrary, was keen on delivering all the promises made in the AP State Reorganisation Act, 2014 and that the Centre is committed to help the state stand on its feet.

He said though Chandrababu Naidu distanced himself from the BJP, the Centre, however, was according special treatment to AP. The Centre has sanctioned four battalions of police forces to T-state but eight battalions to AP after the bifurcation of the state. He recalled Centre releasing of Rs 1,500 crore for the construction of Amaravati and Rs 1,000 crore for development of Vijayawada and Guntur cities.

He said: “The Centre has released Rs 6,760 crore for the construction of Polavaram project so far and assured that the Centre would fund the project fully. He alleged that the Chief Minister offered to take up the construction of Polavaram project only to pocket commissions from contracting firms. He said though the Centre is extending cooperation to AP, Chandrababu Naidu is doing ‘Dharma Poratam’ only for gaining political mileage.”

Narrating the help the Centre had extended to the state, Rajnath said it 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.

He reminded that the Central government increased 14th Finance Commission grants from 32% to 42% to extend helping a hand to the state which has been tottering after Telangana was carved out of it. He further said that so far Centre has sanctioned projects of a value of Rs 80,000 crore to AP and another project of a value of Rs 20,000 crore were in the pipeline.

Referring to the devastation caused by the Titli cyclone, the minister said the Centre would extend help to the cyclone-battered North Andhra. He said the Centre would help the state in ending Maoist menace in the wake of the slaying of an MLA and former MLA by the ultras.

Taking exception to Pakistan provoking India time and again across the border, the Union Home Minster said he had left instructions to the army to retaliate with full fire power if the forces of the neighbouring country open fire. "Our forces will not open fire first. But would return fire, if the Pak forces fire at them," he said.

BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana presided over the meeting. BJP MPs Gokaraju Ganga Raju, GVL Narasimha Rao, MLA P Manikyala Rao and BJP leader IYR Krishna Rao took part in the programme.