NO SPL STATUS FOR AP: CENTRE
Flicking aside the protests and pressures that the Telugu Desam has exerted inside and outside Parliament to force the Centre to accede to its demand of special category status for Andhra Pradesh, the Central government on Tuesday made it clear that this demand will not be met.
Sources in the Union finance ministry said such decisions cannot be taken based on sentiments, and to extend incentives to industries is also not possible.
Special Category Status essentially means additional Central assistance and tax concessions for states that are deemed, for various reasons, to require this assistance.
Telugu Desam MPs have been disrupting work in both houses of Parliament for the last two days on this issue, and AP finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and his team have discussed the special category issue with Union finance Minister Arun Jaitley. But this has not influenced the Union government to do a rethink and now the very alliance between the TD and the BJP stands in jeopardy.
Union finance ministry sources said that the Central government will implement the special package which was announced earlier.
Flicking aside the protests and pressures that the Telugu Desam has exerted inside and outside Parliament to force the Centre to accede to its demand of special category status for Andhra Pradesh, the Central government on Tuesday made it clear that this demand will not be met.
During discussions with Mr Jaitley, Mr Yanamala and his team had focused on special status and tax incentives for the state. But the finance ministry says the special package announced earlier is much better than the specific status. It said that if the incentives given to north-eastern states (which are under special category) are extended to AP, the backward states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar may also demand the same.
The finance ministry sources further said that the Central government feels that AP’s leadership is generating all this political heat merely to enhance its own reputation as the party that won such a concession for the state. If the Centre yields to Telugu sentiments, then it will have to yield to Kerala and Tamil Nadu sentiments too. Union finance ministry officials also said that the central government has given `12,500 crore in four phases to the Polavaram irrigation project.