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The Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Tuesay passed a resolution urging the Centre to accord special category status (SCS) to the State and implement in letter and spirit the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, and honour the promises made by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The resolution also expressed protest and resentment over the inordinate delay in implementing the provisions of the Act as well as over some of the remarks made by central leaders on the issue.
The resolution mentions major State projects such as the Polavaram irrigation project, Visakhapatnam railway zone, Dugarajapatnam port, major educational institutions in the State and the need to complete them expeditiously.
Finance Commission
Earlier, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu made a lengthy speech reiterating many of the points he had made earlier in the Legislative Council on Monday.
Directly questioning the stated position of the Centre that after the 14thFinance Commission it was not possible to accord SCS to any State, the CM said: “One of the members of the Finance Commission clearly wrote in a newspaper that there is nothing in the recommendations of the commission which forbids the Centre from granting SCS to any State. YV Reddy (former RBI Governor) also expressed the same opinion in an interview to a Telugu newspaper. Therefore, it is not fair or proper to deny SCS to the State, raising the bogey of the 14thFinance Commission. It is an executive decision which can be taken by the Centre. I am not saying it. The commission members are saying it.”
Vizag railway zone
Referring to the promised railway zone with Visakhapatnam as the headquarters, the CM said: “I am amazed and aghast that a senior bureaucrat made a statement in New Delhi on Monday that it is not possible or viable”
Addressing P Vishnu Kumar Raju, the BJP floor leader in the Assembly, who had earlier said the railway zone will become a reality and there needn’t be any doubts on that count, the Chief Minister said, with a touch of sarcasm: “Please exert pressure on your leadership and get it done expeditiously. We shall be grateful to you.”
Growth rate
The CM also responded sharply to the comment made by Raju that AP was growing at 11-12 per cent, and that it would not have been possible without the Centre’s assistance, and therefore there was no truth in the allegation that the Centre had done injustice to the State.
Naidu retorted: “Raju, you should realise that while the BJP-led States are languishing at 6-7 per cent growth rate, Andhra is growing at 11-12 per cent. It is mainly due to our hard work and sincerity, and of course a little bit of Central assistance. Those States are being given greater assistance by the Centre. Why are they lagging behind?”
The Chief Minister also made a few barbed, veiled comments about the alleged nexus between the BJP and the main Opposition party in the State, YSR Congress, and how YSR Congress was allegedly acting against the interests of the State.
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