Amaravati: “This is an open challenge to Chandrababu Naidu. Let him come to New Delhi. I am ready for a debate on this,” said Railway Minister Piyush Goyal yesterday on what all the BJP government had done for Andhra Pradesh in the last five years.
Goyal said that AP might lose a special grant of Rs 17,500 crore if the Special Category Status was granted and maintained that Naidu had accepted a special economic package in lieu of this.
The minister was in Vijayawada to release the state BJP’s election manifesto. The manifesto promised a transparent, corruption-free and responsible administration and also to empower all sections politically.
He also gave a presentation on the Centre’s special assistance to the state and sought to expose the chief minister’s double standards over the issue.
He claimed that Naidu had received double benefit from the Centre in the form of a revenue deficit grant and a special economic assistance measure but was now now misleading the people by demanding the SCS. It was purely for political reasons.
He further slammed that Naidu was carrying out a malicious propaganda and spreading falsehoods to hide his own failures and corruption. He further alleged that his party – the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) – has been reduced to a private limited company.
“On one hand, he is indulging in huge corruption and on the other, nominating members of his family as (electoral) candidates. He is running away from investigations (by the CBI, ED and the Income Tax Department) because all his corruption is coming uncovered,” Goyal stated.
Naidu had ditched former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government, the Narendra Modi government and has now even ditched the Congress by not continuing the alliance in the State, claimed Goyal.
In the manifesto, the BJP also promised that since the existing districts in AP are large in size, the party will undertake a reorganisation exercise to make each Lok Sabha constituency a district.