Pledging to ensure justice for Andhra Pradesh, the Congress alleged on Monday that the Modi administration had “deceived” the state’s people regarding the special category status, while Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had made “absolutely no progress” on the issue.
The opposition party reiterated its commitment to granting special category status to the state in its Lok Sabha election manifesto. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh pointed out that the pledge for Special Category Status (SCS) was made during the enactment of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, by none other than Manmohan Singh himself, who assured it in the Rajya Sabha in February 2014.
“As a state with Special Category Status, Andhra Pradesh would enjoy benefits such as special central assistance grants, improved financing terms for externally aided projects, excise duty concessions, and tax incentives to attract investments. Following the loss of Hyderabad, these provisions could have laid the groundwork for the state’s ongoing prosperity – yet the Modi Sarkar betrayed the state’s people for a decade,” he expressed in a statement on X.
The Congress Party is determined to rectify this injustice and aid in securing the economic future of Andhra Pradesh, Ramesh affirmed. “Every single party has let down the people of Andhra Pradesh in this regard: When Dr. Singh pledged SCS for 5 years, BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu countered, ‘Why only 5 years? BJP government will provide it for 10 years.’ Mr. Naidu utterly failed to fulfill this promise during his three-year tenure as Union Minister. PM Modi also made similar assurances prior to the 2014 elections – yet he has since backtracked on this commitment,” the Congress leader lamented.
In 2018, the TDP exited the NDA to protest against the BJP’s inaction on this demand and now it has “cowardly returned to the BJP’s fold, despite the party’s silence on the issue,” Ramesh remarked.
“Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy commenced his tenure in 2019 by stating that there is ‘very little we can do’ and we are ‘at someone’s mercy’ to secure SCS. Having acknowledged his own ineffectiveness from the outset, he has made absolutely no headway in obtaining SCS for the state.
Only the Congress can ensure justice for Andhra Pradesh!” Ramesh declared. His comments come just before the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state.
