Can the biggest coalition partner of the Modi government – Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party-led government in Andhra Pradesh- harbour hopes to see a special mention for Andhra backed by fund allocations to rebuild the state.
There is an air of expectation in Andhra Pradesh. Articulating some of it, Jayadev Galla, the former TDP MP and also the co-founder & chairman of the Amara Raja Group, a leading battery-maker says, “I am hoping that there will be some announcement for Andhra Pradesh.” Ever a decade after the AP Reorganisation Act, a lot of things mentioned in the Act have remained unfulfilled and there is a hope that the government will through the budget look at addressing some of those, he says. Some of the specific areas where fund allocations would be needed would include those for the building the new capital of the state at Amaravati, completion of the Polavarapu project, a major multi-purpose irrigation project over the Godavari river in Andhra. Fund allocation for completion of the seaport in the region. He also feels, the Vizag Steel plant in the state needs to be supported and not privatised. These and several other measures, he feels, are all needed for the state that is already coping with a heavy revenue deficit.
Apart from allocations for Andhra Pradesh, Galla hopes the budget will sustain the tempo of government expenditure on infrastructure with enhanced allocations for highways, airports and seaports.
As an industrialist from the battery-manufacturing arena, he is also hopeful that the budget will support advanced chemistry cells and expand the PLI (Production Linked Incentive) scheme to include more beneficiaries apart from measures to support green initiatives.