Narendra Modi faults Andhra Pradesh division; no promise of funds

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday failed to address the demand for higher allocations to AP, though he criticised the Congress for the way it had divided Andhra Pradesh.

In his 90-minute speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, he said while the Vajpayee-led NDA government had created three new states taking into account both national and the states’ interests, the UPA government had divided AP for purely political purposes, without looking into issues that would concern the two successor states.

He said the division of AP was done in haste, with the elections in mind, and it was done in such a way as to keep it out of the Lok Sabha. As a result, problems keep surfacing even fo-ur years after the split.