We are only seeking financial justice: Naidu

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, AUG. 20. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, left for New Delhi tonight, determined to go ahead with Monday's conference of Chief Ministers to highlight the ``injustice'' meted out to the ``progressive and performing States'' by the Eleventh Finance Commission (EFC) report.

The Chief Ministers of six to eight States have confirmed participation, but Mr. Naidu is hopeful that other Chief Ministers would also attend. Karnataka's Mr. S.M. Krishna and Tamil Nadu's Mr. M. Karunandihi are not making it due to prior engagements, especially the crisis caused by Veerappan's abductions.

Mr. Naidu denied that the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, had advised him to defer the meeting. He spoke to the Prime Minister and assured that the meet was ``not political but only financial''. Mr. Naidu told the Assembly that there was no question of withdrawing support to the NDA Government.

Mr. Naidu clarified at a hurriedly-called news conference: ``The idea is to merely seek justice in terms of more devolutions for progressive and performing States such as Andhra Pradesh in the context of the EFC recommendations. There is no politics involved.'' The Chief Ministers would only submit a representation to Mr. Vajpayee and other Central leaders. He declined to react to a query if the BJP was averse to allowing its Chief Ministers to participate.

Mr. Naidu lamented that while the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the Planning Commission advocated reforms, the Finance Commission charted another course. Thanks to the EFC, his State would get Rs. 736 crores less.

He did not grudge poorer States getting more; he only wanted justice for ``performing States''. The loss could be made good by the Centre through adequate compensation. He favoured a cut-off date on poverty; otherwise, politicians tend to promote poverty.

Nothing political, says DMK

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, AUG. 20. The DMK said today that there was nothing political in the meeting convened by the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, in New Delhi tomorrow to discuss the implications of the EFC report for the so-called ``developed'' States.

``There is no party politics in this,'' senior DMK functionary and the Tamil Nadu Law Minister, Mr. Aladi Aruna, who will represent the Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, at the meet, told The Hindu. The EFC recommendations had ``seriously affected'' States such as Tamil Nadu, which had performed well as per the development indices; and all the ``affected States'' were meeting to discuss this problem to ``overcome the difficulties caused by the Commission''.

About the possible embarrassment to the BJP as some States taking part in the meet are run by NDA allies such as the DMK and the TDP, Mr. Aruna said that taking part in the Central Government was ``entirely different from fighting for the rights of the States. It does not mean we are creating a controversy.''

Arguing that the Centre had the right to modify the recommendations, he said, ``We understand the difficulties of the Centre as it has placed the panel's report and the Action Taken Report in Parliament. But we also expect the Centre to understand our difficulties.''

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