Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Tuesday that the Centre was denying Andhra Pradesh its rights by not according special category status to the state, ANI reported.

“You’re giving industrial incentives to states with special status and not to Andhra Pradesh. Why?” Naidu asked in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. “It is our right. You are not allowing a discussion in Parliament on the issue. Why? Why we are being denied our rights?”

Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party quit the National Democratic Alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, last week, said that he was asking for special category status for Andhra Pradesh only for a limited period of time for the state’s development. “Please give this opportunity to the state until it becomes equal with the other southern states,” he added. The TDP has also moved a no-confidence motion against the Centre after quitting the alliance.

Asserting that Andhra Pradesh was the only state that has set up a corporation for skill development, Naidu said his government’s goal was to make it among the top three states in India by 2022, and the top by 2029.

On March 13, Naidu had accused the Centre of using tax revenue from southern states to fund development initiatives in North India. Charging the BJP-led government of “step-motherly treatment”, Naidu also rejected the saffron party’s claim that the state had not accounted for the funds the Centre had released so far.