Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday called for greater cooperation and coordination among the southern States, saying their collective progress could become a powerful driving force for India’s development and help realise the goal of Viksit Bharat.

Addressing the 31st Southern Zonal Council meeting at Mahabalipuram near Chennai, Mr. Naidu said the southern States had the potential to collectively emerge as an economy worth more than $10 trillion by 2047. The meeting, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, discussed an agenda comprising 24 issues.

Joint initiatives

Mr. Naidu said disputes and pending issues between States should be resolved through mutual trust, cooperation and coordination. He proposed a range of joint initiatives, including a bullet train corridor connecting Amaravati, Bengaluru and Chennai via Kuppam, which he said could significantly boost economic activity across Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

He suggested the creation of a common logistics network, dry ports, stronger integration of the southern power grid with the national grid and a joint skill development ecosystem involving universities and other institutions. He proposed a dedicated disaster management task force to ensure that no southern State was left to deal with natural calamities in isolation.

Tourism

Mr. Naidu also called for a heritage, tourism and pilgrimage circuit linking major southern centres such as Tirupati, Srisailam, Kancheepuram, Madurai, Rameswaram and Mysuru with Varanasi, Ayodhya and the Char Dham destinations.

Mr. Naidu said the five southern States currently accounted for about 31% of India’s GDP and would play a crucial role in helping the country achieve its long-term economic ambitions. Andhra Pradesh, he said, had set a target of becoming a $2.4-trillion economy, while Tamil Nadu was aiming for $2.6 trillion and Karnataka $1 trillion, with the southern region collectively capable of crossing the $10-trillion mark by 2047.

Pending bifurcation issues

Raising pending issues relating to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, Mr. Naidu said the division of institutions listed under Schedules IX and X remained incomplete even 12 years after bifurcation. He urged the Centre to take early decisions on the division of assets, liabilities and institutions and resolve other pending issues under Sections 56 and 66 of the Act.

He thanked the Centre for its support to Andhra Pradesh, noting that 10 of the 11 promised national institutions had already been established. He said Central assistance had been crucial for projects such as Polavaram, the South Coast Railway Zone and the development of Amaravati.

The Chief Minister also sought faster approvals for projects under Schedule XIII, including the Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor, development of three airports and rail connectivity to Amaravati. He sought approvals for the Dugarajapatnam port, BPCL refinery, Metro rail projects in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, and rail connectivity to the Jindal Steel facility at Kadapa.

River inter-linking

On water security, Mr. Naidu described river interlinking as a long-term solution. He proposed transferring more than 500 TMC of surplus floodwaters through the Godavari-Krishna-Penna-Cauvery linkage, saying the project could benefit Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

He also called for the Ganga-Cauvery link to be taken up as a national project and suggested a dedicated southern river basins coordination mechanism to ensure timely preparation of DPRs and statutory clearances.

Mr. Naidu said the Southern Zonal Council should serve as an effective platform for strengthening Centre-State relations, resolving inter-State issues and ensuring the speedy implementation of decisions taken at its meetings.

Published - August 20, 2026 08:07 pm IST