PM assures Naidu on Spl Status for AP

• PM non-committal on meeting budgetary deficit for 10 years
• Naidu seeks spl package of Rs 15,000 cr for new capital
• Seeks another berth for TDP in Cabinet expansion

Hyderabad/ New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is understood to have assured Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu that the Centre would expedite the process of according the special status category to the state very soon.

During the 90-minute meeting, the Prime Minister is learnt to have told Naidu that the Centre was committed to release funds for the Polavaram project and will also help the state government in meeting the budgetary deficit for this financial year. Naidu urged Modi to extend the facility of meeting budgetary deficit for the next 10 years. But the Prime Minister was non-committal, the source said.

Naidu is learnt to have told the Prime Minister that the industries were keen to invest in Andhra Pradesh but were waiting for the special category status to be announced. If the Centre comes to the rescue of the state at the earliest, the development of the state could be put on fast forward mode.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister also emphasised on the need for a special package of Rs 15,000 crore for the construction of the capital city. It is also being said that Naidu requested Modi for another berth for TDP in the next cabinet reshuffle.

The issue of the institutions not mentioned in the IX and X Schedule of the Bifurcation Act also is said to have figured during the talks.

Earlier Naidu met union minister of commerce Nirmala Seetharaman and Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh.