TDP 'very disappointed' with budget

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a partner in the NDA government, Saturday said it was "very disappointed" over the 2015-16 union budget.

TDP parliamentarians and Andhra Pradesh cabinet ministers said injustice was done to the state as there was no clarity with regard to the special status promised in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

TDP, which is the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh, was also unhappy that no new institutes were announced for the state and a meagre allocation of Rs.100 crore was made for the Polavaram project.

Party sources said a delegation led by TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week to place the demands for special category status to the state and industrial incentives to the backward regions.

MP G. Jayadev said in Delhi that they were "very disappointed".

He said though Finance Minister Arun Jaitely said all legal commitments made at the time of reorganisation would be complied with, there was no clarity in the budget.

He said it was a year since the Reorganisation Act was passed but nothing had been done to fulfill the commitment made therein.

Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y.S. Chowdary said Jaitely told parliament that Bihar and West Bengal would be provided special assistance as was provided to Andhra Pradesh but there was no clarity.

The minister said they were waiting for Naidu's direction to take up the issue with the central government.