HYDERABAD:While Hyderabad still continues to be the common capital for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is sending out clear signals to the people of Andhra Pradesh that he has given ‘special status’ to the new capital region Vijayawada, if not in papers, at least in his mind. In a clear indication to his new-found love for Vijayawada, Naidu has begun spending more time in the new capital and has been holding a series of meetings with the officials of various departments there for the past four days to review their performance.
Till a week ago, the TDP president used to boast about his contribution to Hyderabad. He even used to repeatedly assert that he would not leave Hyderabad until his party comes to power in Telangana. But, Naidu has suddenly developed aversion to common capital and has started spending more time in Vijayawada. Even though, he is constructing a new and swanky house for his family in Hyderabad, Naidu has shifted his loyalty and begun to run the state administration from Vijayawada.
In order to convince the people of his state that he is committed to running the state administration from Andhra Pradesh’s jurisdiction even though the new capital has insufficient infrastructure to act as the ‘seat of power’, Naidu has also decided to hold all future meetings of the state cabinet in Vijayawada.
But Naidu’s latest actions impose huge financial burden on the cash-starved state as officials will have to travel all the way from Hyderabad to the new capital region along with their subordinates to attend these meetings. The road distance between Hyderabad and Vijayawada is 283 km, while the aerial distance is 253 km. By train it is 313 km.
The increasing pressure from opposition parties on him to convince the NDA government, in which the TDP is also a partner, to accord special category status to the reorganised state—a promise made by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh in Rajya Sabha during bifurcation of undivided Andhra Pradesh—seems to have forced Naidu to spend more time in the new capital region. By doing so, he reportedly wants to pre-empt the moves of the Opposition to build resentment among people against his government over special status.
After AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s maiden visit to the reorganised state and his announcement that he would not rest until Andhra Pradesh gets its due from the Centre, including special status, the otherwise dormant demand for special status gradually picked up pace in the state.
Interestingly, Union Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh dropped a bomb shell when he announced in the Lok Sabha that the government would not accord ‘special status’ to states any more. This development provided a fresh opportunity to Opposition parties in the state to corner the ruling TDP-BJP combine. The Congress and the principal opposition, the YSR Congress (YSRC), and the Left parties have begun vying with each other in stepping up their attack on the TDP-BJP combine and are accusing the Modi-Naidu duo of deceiving the people over special status.
The recent death of Congress worker B Munikoti, who attempted self-immolation in a bid to ask for special status to Andhra Pradesh, added fuel to the fire and brought the Opposition parties together. Addressing his first press conference in the newly set-up camp office in Vijayawada last week, Naidu said, “Special status should not be seen as the panacea of all ills and Andhra Pradesh needs more than this to overcome the problems the division has thrown up.” He will call on the Prime Minister in Delhi after August 25. “During the meeting, he will discuss issues like financial assistance to new capital and economic package to backward districts. I am confident that some clarity will come on special status after the meeting,” said state Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu.