Vijayasai expresses concern over Centre neglecting AP in Budget

New Delhi: In response to the criticism by the Opposition parties in AP, the YSRCP has launched a feeble attack on the BJP for "neglecting AP in the Budget" while blaming the TDP for the ill-doings in the State.

It has even compared the regimes of the former TDP government in the residual State of AP and the former YSRSP regime in combined AP. It has also blamed former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's ignorance for the travails of AP.

Speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, YSRCP Parliamentary Party leader and RS MP V Vijaisai Reddy said here on Monday that the Centre's reasons for not sanctioning the Special Category Status to AP were flawed. He also gave fiscal details of the YSR regime to claim that AP should be rewarded now for the same.

He said the Chief Minister himself had met the Prime Minister more than seven times and the Union Home Minister more than 12 times on the subject.

The matter was raised during the zonal council meeting held in Tirupati recently. He criticised the Opposition for not being sincere in raising the SCS issue and said YSRCP had stalled the business of the House for several days in the last session.

AP was the only State which had lost its capital after bifurcation and it was also the only State that was promised SCS on the floor of the Rajya Sabha. Sprucing up the argument further he said the then Prime Minister (Dr Manmohan Singh) did not know that Odisha and Bihar were backward States and also did not know the situation of Andhra Pradesh post-bifurcation.

After talking about the status of Delhi, he said Uttarakhand was sanctioned SCS though it was not incorporated in the Reorganisation Act of UP.

It showed that two rules existed in the country - one for the BJP ruled States and the other for non-BJP ruled states, he said.

On political possibility, he said that the Union Home Minister had promised Special UT Status to Puducherry during an election campaign in March last. The matter was an emotional issue for AP, he reminded the Centre.

He blamed the former TDP government for accepting the special package instead of the SCS that would have boosted the investments in AP. The Central government claimed that the 14th Finance Commission report did not allow AP to have SCS and referred to the Gadgil Report which said that the FC report was not binding.

Quoting the Gadgil Report, he said SCS should have been given to AP for not less than a 10-year period. He again blamed the erstwhile TDP government for the over-borrowings, he said the present government must be rewarded "for under-borrowing during the YSR regime". To strengthen his case, he said during YSRCP rule, the combined State had a healthy fiscal status as between 2005-14.