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Railway Budget upsets Chandrababu Naidu

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is unhappy about the raw deal Andhra Pradesh has got in the Union Railway Budget for 2000-2001 presented to Parliament on Friday.

Though Naidu has not reacted officially so far, sources in the Chief Minister's office said he was "quite upset'' because the budget talks of only two new trains to the state and is completely silent on new and pending projects.

Though Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee in her budget speech did mention the multi-nodal transport system as a joint venture project with the Andhra Pradesh government , the details are awaited.

"Other states, particularly West Bengal, the railway minister's home state, seem to have got a better deal. What is the fun of having a minister of state from AP?'' a Telugu Desam Party functionary asked.

The two new trains Andhra Pradesh will have are: the Tirupathi-Nagercoil express and the Kakinada-Vizag link train. Frequency of two more trains - the Vizag-Hyderabad express and the Bangalore-Puttaparthi express - has been increased.

"These minor sops don't mean anything," the TDP leader said.

The TDP, which is the second largest party in the ruling coalition at the Centre, is the biggest prop for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party leader K Yerran Naidu had recently met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee and discussed the needs of the state.

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