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Replying to a volley of questions from Congress members in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday on granting the special status to Andhra Pradesh, the Centre said it is not possible to do so.
The Minister of State for Ministry of Planning Rao Inderjit Singh said the objective has been to fill the resource gap of each State to the extent possible through tax devolution. “Accordingly, the States’ share of Central taxes has increased from 32 per cent earlier to 42 per cent for the period 2015-2020 as per the recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission,” Singh said while replying a calling attention motion moved by KVP Ramachandra Rao of the Congress.
Rao said the Centre is inventing lame excuses to deny a promise made by the erstwhile government to the people of Andhra Pradesh. “Perhaps it is the first time in the history, an assurance given in Parliament has not been fulfilled even after a lapse of three years and even after the continuous agitations by the people of a State,” he said.
Singh said the basic principle of awarding special category state was that the National Development Council would approve it. “The NDC was in the era of the Planning Commission. The last State to be given...was Uttarakhand way back in 2001,” he said.
“We are not giving Andhra Pradesh special category status. So, please keep quiet,” he told Congress members who were shouting.
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