Andhra Pradesh CM meets PM Modi, seeks relaxation of debt ceiling

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of presidential and vice-presidential elections scheduled in July.

The ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) chief's meeting with Modi assumes significance as the BJP has stepped up preparations for the presidential elections and is rallying support from allies in the event of Opposition fielding a joint candidate.

"...Chief Minister met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here and held a 45-minute discussion on several state issues," an official statement said.

Currently, YSRCP has the highest vote share of about 4 per cent -- among the parties considered as fence-sitters -- in the electoral college of presidential election.

YSRCP had supported NDA candidates even in 2017 elections for the President and Vice President. It had also backed the NDA government on three controversial farm laws, which were later repealed.

In the meeting with Modi, Andhra CM reiterated the state government's demand to restore the net borrowing ceiling to the earlier level and release of revised cost estimate of Polavaram Irrigation project at Rs 5548.87 crore in a fortnight.

"The construction cost of the Polavaram project should be reimbursed taking into account the total project cost and not component-wise separately. The state government has not paid the Rs 905.51 crore it spent on its own funds due to the sanctions," the statement said.

Jagan requested Modi to release funds of Rs 32,625 crore for various pending bills under 10th Pay Commission, including financial package for rebuilding DISCOMs, senior citizen pensions and loan waiver for farmers.

In regard to Polavaram, he urged the Prime Minister to approve the revised cost estimates of Rs 55,548.87 crore as per 2017-18 price index as the Technical Advisory Committee had already approved.

He asked to consider the drinking water component of the Polavaram project as an integral part of the project structure and follow the same approach as other national projects in the past.

The chief minister also sought higher allocation of foodgrains under the National Food Security Act, as well as under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. He also sought approvals for setting up another 12 Medical Colleges in the state to cater to 26 districts.

Also, he asked the Prime Minister to renew the approvals of the site clearances for the greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram.

In regard to setting up an Integrated Steel Plant in YSR district, the chief minister requested to allocate iron mines to Andhra Pradesh Mining Development Corporation (APMDC) for an uninterrupted supply of iron ore to operate the plant.

Among other issues, he also sought approvals to allot beach sand minerals to APMDC which could attract investments of Rs 20,000 crore. He said that 14 of 16 approvals are in a pending state, the statement added.

Later, the CM called on Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and discussed the above issues. He is likely to meet Jal Shakti Minister as well as Home Minister.