AP CM Chandrababu Naidu meets NDA ministers, seeks help to rebuild state

New Delhi, Jun 26: As part his mission to rebuild residual

, Chief Minister N

on Thursday held a series of meetings with Union Ministers and sought their support for various projects in the state post its bifurcation.

In back-to-back meetings here, Naidu called on Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, Power Minister Piyush Goyal, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda.

Goyal said that the state-run NTPC has agreed to let AP government use its railway facilities for transportation of coal to fire the state's thermal electricity project and generate 500MW of additional power in the next 2-3 months.

"We are working on a plan for AP to get good quality and affordable power within the next 12 months," Goyal told reporters after his meeting with Naidu.

The AP CM said plans are afoot to provide quality power to the industrial and farming sectors in the state. Later, during his meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Naidu raised the issue of AP being granted special state status.

"BJP has said in its election manifesto that the status of special state should be given to AP for 10 years. I have discussed the issue with the Home Minister and he said that the Central government will look into it sympathetically," said Naidu.

With Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Naidu discussed the setting up of a petroleum university in the state and also took up the matter of expediting construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal on the east coast.

Pradhan said that setting up of a greenfield refinery in AP was also discussed. Naidu also pressed for the release of more LNG connections and setting up of a gas grid. Calling on HRD Minister Smriti Irani, Naidu sought the establishment of central institutions as assured in the AP Reorganisation Act.

Sources who accompanied Naidu said that prominent central educational institutions were located in and around Hyderabad but none was presently available in the 13 districts of residual Andhra Pradesh, except for state universities.

"Land required for setting up these national institutions has been identified... There is in-principle approval for starting a Central university, an agriculture university, a tribal university and an IIIT," the sources added.

The sources also claimed that these universities would be established at Visakhapatnam in north Andhra Pradesh and in Krishna or Guntur district in the central part of the state.

Besides, another university is proposed at Tirupathi in Rayalaseema region, thus covering the entire state. Meanwhile, another source said that Naidu had urged Union Minister Uma Bharti to expedite the process for commencing with the Polavaram Irrigation project.

A press release from Andhra Pradesh government said that Naidu also called on Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and held a meeting with foreign delegates at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan.

PTI