VIJAYAWADA: Governor ESL Narasimhan’s visit to New Delhi on Friday is gaining significance as it comes at a time when the leaders of the State BJP have been camping in the national capital for the last two days.
Sources said that the development oddly a week after the governors’ meeting organised by the President on June 4 and 5, raises speculation that some political moves are expected to take place in the two Telugu States in the coming days.
In support of the claim, sources point to the visit of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to Delhi on Thursday and his scheduled meeting with the Prime Minister the next day.
Though, Rao is scheduled to participate in the NITI Aayog meeting to be presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 17, his sudden visit to Delhi as well as that of the Governor at the same time raises speculation that some unanticipated developments are going to take place in the Telugu states, the sources observed.
Earlier in the day, BJP State president Kanna Lakshminarayana met party’s national president Amit Shah to apprise him of the political developments in Andhra Pradesh. Kanna said that Amit Shah had assured that the Centre would extend `16,500 crore financial assistance for the Externally Aided Projects (EAPs) if the State government forms a special purpose vehicle (SPV).
“When the State government sought 30 percent mobilisation advance of the funds to be released, external agencies, which are foreign firms, denied saying that there was no possibility of giving advances while processing the loan. As it failed in getting the mobilisation advance, the State government again asked the Centre to arrange funds from the agencies like Nabard and others.
The Centre agreed even to that request, but the State government has not formed the SPV,” he explained. He further added, “Our president Amit Shah has assured that he would take the responsibility of getting the funds for EAPs released, provided the State government forms the SPV.” Kanna further explained that Amit Shah sought to know the plans to effectively counter the TDP’s blitzkrieg against the Centre. “Even when I met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, the first question he asked me was why Naidu took a U-turn despite being given high priority,” he said.