Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday took a veiled dig at the central government over the delay in fulfilling the promise of an oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Andhra Pradesh that was originally a commitment made by Dr. Manmohan Singh’s Government in the Thirteenth Schedule of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 saying this lackadaisical pace of implementation was one of the reasons why Chandrababu Naidu famously withdrew from the NDA in 2018.
He alao hoped that perhaps now that the one third Pradhan Mantri (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi has lost his majority and his ego and it expect rapid implementation of the Act In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Ramesh who is Congress communication incharge said, “An oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Andhra Pradesh was originally a commitment made by Dr. Manmohan Singh’s Government in the Thirteenth Schedule of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014. In fact, the one third Pradhan Mantri’s (Prime Minister’s) government was legally obliged to deliver the project within the last ten years, and IOC/HPCL were obliged to examine the feasibility of the project within six months.
“The one third Pradhan Mantri’s government, after failing to move for 10 years, has only initiated the feasibility study now,” he said.
Taking a jibe at the government, the Congress leader said, “This lackadaisical pace of implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act was one of the reasons why Chandrababu Naidu garu famously withdrew from the NDA in 2018. Perhaps now that the one third Pradhan Mantri has lost his majority and his ego, we can expect rapid implementation of the Act.”
He also attached a newsreport with his tweet and the copy of the Thirteenth Schedule of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 promising setting up of the oil refinery plant.
His remarks came after the government on Wednesday decided to accede a major demand made by Andhra Pradesh chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu of setting up an oil refinery with an investment of Rs 60,000 crore.
Naidu had met Modi last week to push for the demand for his state and had also met Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.