'Centre should help AP till it is on par with other states'

Under fire from the Opposition over the Andhra Pradesh government's "failure" to get special category status for the state, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today said the Centre should help the state till it achieved a level playing field with neighbouring states that are "far ahead".
"Venkaiah Naidu ji and (Arun) Jaitley ji had fought in the Rajya Sabha (for the interests of AP during the state bifurcation last year). In the present time, Andhra Pradesh should not be treated on par with other states.
"There are problems in this state following bifurcation. We are working hard now. The Centre needs to help us till we come up on par with other states," Naidu said while addressing a meeting of TDP leaders in Vijayawada.

"If we see the neighbouring states, there is Tamil Nadu with Chennai, Karnataka with Bangalore and Telangana with Hyderabad. These three states are far ahead of us with dynamic cities or bigger capital cities. We (AP) cannot compete with them in terms of revenues. The Centre needs to help us, give us hand-holding till we come on par with those states," he added.
If the Union Government helps us, if we do well, the Centre will get a share of the taxes and they can distribute the funds among all states as per a formula, he said adding, "so, the Centre has to give us. We have to try for that."

Special category status was promised to Seemandhra (new Andhra Pradesh) in Parliament during the bifurcation last year as a way of compensation for the loss the state was projected to suffer.
During the last year's polls, the BJP-TDP combine had promised to get special category status for Andhra Pradesh.
However, Union Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh while replying to a question in the Lok Sabha yesterday said "there is no proposal as of now to grant special status to any state", which made the opposition YSR Congress, Congress and the Left parties attack the BJP and TDP for the "betrayal".