TDP wants a point man in PMO to tackle Andhra's pending projects

TDP wants a point man in PMO to tackle Andhra's pending projects
B S NAGARAJ

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 11: The Telugu Desam Party has added yet another demand to its ever-expanding wishlist: it wants an Officer on Special Duty in the Prime Minister's Office to be put exclusively in charge of following up pending projects of the Andhra Pradesh government.

The demand was made to Prime Minister Vajpayee by TDP MPs at a dinner hosted in their honour two days ago. The PM had invited them in a bid to assuage their feelings of hurt over the lack of adequate response to their pleas for clearance of projects and sanction of funds.

Given the controversial nature of the demand, Vajpayee is said to have expressed doubts over conceding it. He is said to have remarked that if an officer is put in charge of projects of any one State, there would be similar demands from other partners in the National Democratic Alliance.

Vajpayee was otherwise all honey and sugar. When the MPs complained that Union ministries were being indifferent to work relating to their constituencies, he told them, much to their embarrassment, ``Why don't you join the government?'' This made them happy alright though they were conscious of their leader N Chandrababu Naidu's strong resistance to that option.

The TDP MPs are cut up with some ministers at the Centre for not responding to their grievances. They are also sore over the ``humiliation'' meted out to one MP, former minister U.Venkateswarlu, by the staff of a senior Cabinet minister. And recently, they had a tiff with the chairman of the All India Council of Technical Eduction over granting recognition to engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh.

The MPs are feeling increasingly restive because on the one hand they feel their constituency-level grievances are not being addressed by the Centre andon the other Naidu does not allow the TDP to join the Vajpayee government. Partymen say even ministers in Naidu's council of ministers are also frustrated that all the clout is concentrated in the chief minister.