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State can recover only throughSpecial Category Status: Vundavalli
He said Andhra Pradesh paid heavy price due to bifurcation of the State and it needs support from the Central government. He said the State can attain economic self-sufficiency because of existing ports, KG Basin reserves and Krishna and Godavari river waters.
​Vijayawada: Former MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar said the loss suffered by Andhra Pradesh due to bifurcation of State can be compensated only by granting Special Category Status (SCS) and construction of Polavaram project. He said industrial and economic development will be possible with SCS to the State.
He said Andhra Pradesh paid heavy price due to bifurcation of the State and it needs support from the Central government. He said the State can attain economic self-sufficiency because of existing ports, KG Basin reserves and Krishna and Godavari river waters.
He said Andhra Pradesh was left without industries after bifurcation and recalled that Andhra industrialists had set up major industries in Hyderabad considering that it was part of their State. Vundavalli participated in a Meet-the-Press programme organised by Vijayawada Press Club, here on Sunday.
Stating SCS is very important for Andhra Pradesh, he said neither Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu nor Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu were explaining to people why the Union government was not granting SCS to AP.
He recalled that Venkaiah Naidu fought very strongly in Rajya Sabha during the passing of AP Reorganisation Bill and he demanded that SCS should be implemented for 10 years for Andhra Pradesh. He questioned why Venkaiah Naidu had now changed his stand on special status. He said Venkaiah Naidu was also not responding to Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan’s remarks.
The former MP said he knew Venkaiah Naidu for the last 40 years and he never spoke lies during his long political career. He wondered why the BJP leader was telling lies now about releasing funds to Andhra Pradesh.
He said the Union government so far released only Rs 2,000 crore for construction of capital Amaravati and further announced an assistance of Rs 1,000 crore. Referring to Polavaram, he said the Central government must take responsibility for construction of Polavaram as per the rules and made it clear that the State government cannot spend funds on Central projects.
He regretted that the Union government was also not giving assurance on releasing grants to fill the deficit budget. He said canal irrigation can be taken up in 85 per cent land of Godavari districts with construction of Polavaram project and industrial and economic development can be made with vast natural resources available in KG Basin.
He felt the State can attain financial self-sufficiency with natural resources and ports. He said Krishna river water can be used for Rayalaseema region and Godavari waters can be used for the rest of the State with construction of Polavaram project.
Asked about his political career, he said he will be in politics as usual. He opined that the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh will not recover in near future and added that its status will be restricted to third or fourth place like in the States of Tamil Nadu, UP, Bihar and Odisha where regional parties are very strong.
