Editorial: Special Category silence

Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu is back home after a whirlwind visit to central ministries last week. Armed with a long wish list, he called on the Union ministers for Finance, Defence, Home, Housing and Urban Affairs, Rural Development, Highways, and Petroleum and Natural Gas and topped it all off with a meeting with Prime Minister Modi. As he is the most important wielder of leverage upon the new NDA government, the corridors of power in

Lutyens’ Delhi were all ears to Naidu, who, being a crafty bargainer, was not shy of calling in the dues owed to him.

The meeting with the PM must have been particularly delicious. Back in 2014, as CM of the rump state of Andhra Pradesh, he had invited the then new PM to the inaugural of his dream project of Amaravati, a capital city that would be the envy of the world. Hoping to entice Modi to announce a hefty package of sops for the project, the CM orchestrated a show pandering to the narcissistic bent of the dignitary. However, being an avowed utilitarian with no love for anything merely romantic, it was a disappointment to Naidu that Modi brought no gifts with him but a pot of soil from Parliament, signifying the confluence that is Bharat. Ten years hence, the shoe is on the other foot. The elections have dealt a decisive ace to the TDP chief and the much-reduced Modi must now work hard to keep his ally in pleasure.

Naidu’s list of demands was therefore long. Naidu submitted a scroll of measures he would like to see in the upcoming Union Budget. To start with, he wants short-term funds and additional capex support in the form of a Rs 15,000 crore disbursal to rekindle the stalled infrastructure projects in Amaravati, scaling up to Rs 1 lakh crore over the next five years. There is also the Polavaram irrigation scheme, a national project that the Centre has pledged to fund in the ratio of 90:10, for which Rs 12,100 crore are required pronto to complete the first phase.

In addition, Naidu is exercising his heft for metro rail projects in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Amravati, and Vande Bharat train connectivity for Vijayawada and Vizag. He is also demanding Rs 24,000 crore to develop backward districts in North Andhra and Rayalaseema and Prakasam. The state also seeks central assistance to construct the Ramayapatnam Port, an integrated steel plant in Kadapa, and a petroleum refinery in the upcoming Petroleum Corridor.

Significantly though, the politically crucial issue of Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh did not figure prominently in Naidu’s opening pitch to the new government. This is one of those Catch-22 issues that political parties swear by when in opposition but cannot fulfil when elected to power. Special Category Status was promised to residual AP by the then Prime Minister on the floor of the Rajya Sabha in 2013, but was not worked into the AP Reorganisation Act, thereby giving parties in opposition a bone to pick and ruling parties a ruse. As a seasoned player of coalition politics, Naidu knows there is a tradeoff in using Special Category Status as heft against the Central government: As soon as he does so, he risks conceding leverage to opponents in his own state. So, for now it is imperative for Naidu to stick to politics of the possible.