BJP Seeks Financial Package For Seemandhra In Return For Telangana Support

NEW DELHI: Congress and BJP are engaged in intense negotiations to hammer out an understanding over the creation of Telangana.

BJP has assured the government that it would not waver from its commitment to the creation of Telangana but is insisting on a specific pledge of financial support for Seemandhra region as the condition for supporting the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Bill, expected to be introduced in Parliament on Wednesday. The Union home ministry on Sunday sent a recommendation to President Pranab Mukherjee for introduction of the Telangana bill in Parliament.

Sources said BJP is demanding a commitment for extending financial assistance worth Rs 17,000 odd crore to Seemandhra region through the Consolidated Fund of India to meet the revenue gap it will be saddled with, based on projections for the previous and current fiscal years, because of the transfer of resource-rich Hyderabad to Telangana as the capital of the proposed state.

The party also wants the government to ask the Finance Commission to find ways of helping Seemandhra region with adequate funds on a long-term basis as a compensation for Hyderabad which generated Rs 24,000 crore in revenue.

It also wants specific commitments in the coming fiscal year for projects that the two sides feel should be created in Seemandhra region for its development.

Congress sources confirmed that there have been several rounds of talks between party representatives including Union ministers from Andhra Pradesh and BJP leader and former party president M Venkaiah Naidu.

When contacted, Naidu confirmed that he had been talking to Congress representatives and that he had made it plain that BJP will support the AP Reorganization Bill if the government commits itself to take measures for the development of Seemandhra region.

"BJP in principle favours the creation of Telangana. That has been our consistent stand. But at the same time, we want to ensure that the interests of Seemandhra region are also safeguarded. There is no conflict of interest between the people of the two regions. They are all Indians and they are all Telugus,” Naidu said.

He claimed that while the Centre and the Congress agreed about the need to take special steps in Seemandhra region, they were reluctant to back up their statements of intent with commitments of financial support. "They are not ready to make a commitment for the provision of assistance to Seemandhra through the Consolidated Fund of India to help it bridge the revenue gap. They want to leave the matter to the Finance Commission which is not acceptable to us,” Naidu said.

Naidu also demanded commitment of support for projects the two sides have agreed on like upgrade of existing airports at Vizag, Vijaywada and Tirupati to international standards, creation of an industrial corridor between Vizag and Chennai along the lines of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor and setting up of branches of central institutions located in Hyderabad such as DRDO, IIM and others.

"I told them empty gestures of hand will not do. Put money on the table,” the BJP leader said.

Both sides said that while sticking points remained, they were in agreement on provisions of the bill such as declaring Rayalaseema region as backward and providing special incentives including tax holidays and exemption from central exercise for industry, creation of reservoirs in Seemandhra as part of the Polavaram project on Godavari, swift completion of six irrigation projects -- four in Rayalaseema and two in Telangana -- linked to Krishna river and a provision in the bill that education and employment opportunities in Hyderabad will remain open to people from both regions until Seemandhra gets its own capital.

Naidu has also demanded creation of power plants of 4,000 mega watts capacity in the Telangana region.

On the inclusion of Anantapur and Kurnool districts from Rayalaseema in Telangana, BJP is learnt to have said that it can be considered if the two regions agree.