AP CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu attended NITI Aayog’s fourth Governing Council meet on Sunday in Delhi. All states CMs attended this meet presided over by PM Narendra Modi. Naidu raised the issue of AP Special category status. He directly attacked PM in his speech saying that BJP led center deceived AP people by not granting special status and also not providing enough funds to build new capital.
Naidu spoke against the Terms of Reference (ToR) to the 15th Finance Commission for considering 1971 data rather than taking into account recent 2011 census population which would have adverse effect on states in their development despite having controlled their population. Naidu expressed such a scheme would disturb the democratic setup of the country. Employment Guarantee Act/Scheme (MGNREGA) should be linked with the agriculture sector. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Narayana Swamy several others supported Naidu.
Home minister Rajnath Singh tried to intervene and stop Naidu but failed. PM Modi had to face embarrassment in front of his cabinet ministers and lieutenant governors.
But soon he found a way to cool down Naidu. Apparently, Modi felt countering Naidu would turn it further murkier so he showered praises on him to the surprise of all. PM appreciated Naidu for his efforts to improve power supply in his state.
