The Congress party has opposed the move by the Centre to withdraw the special category status of the North East states, alleging that such a move may hamper the region's development.
"In the 14th Finance Commission, there is a recommendation that the 'special category' status given to the North East states will be removed. At present, special category states get 90 percent grant from the Government of India for their budget. Ten percent is the state government's contribution," Congress leader V. Narayanasamy said.
"If the 'special category' status is removed, only 30 percent of the budget will be provided by the Central government and 70 percent will be from the state's contribution. From where will the North East states come up with 70 percent? They don't have big industries, small scale industries or important tourism destination," he added.
He further accused the BJP government in the Centre of attempting to delink large number of schemes operating in the North East region.
"They are totally cutting the funds that are flowing to the North East states. From all the Centrally sponsored schemes, they cut the funds, even for ongoing schemes for the North East," he said.
Narayanaswamy was on a three-day visit to Tripura, during which he held meetings of Congress leaders at the party headquarters and outside.
He also meet the party's defeated ADC candidates and observers at Congress Bhavan and expressed concern over why the party could not make any impact in the recently concluded TTAADC polls.
