Modi govt's hands tied on spl category status: Siddharth Singh

The BJP today asserted that the Centre was committed to ensuring that Andhra Pradesh get all the assistance it required in the wake of the creation of Telangana, but claimed that Modi government's "hands are tied" when it came to the grant of special category status.

"The Congress had raised the promise of special status for Andhra Pradesh as an electoral gimmick during the Lok Sabha polls.

"People must be made aware that under the rule of the same Congress, the 14th Finance Commission was passed in the Parliament. The Commission clearly states that henceforth no state shall be given special category status.
 

"So the hands of the Modi government are tied on this issue", BJP national secretary in-charge for Andhra Pradesh Siddharth Nath Singh told PTI here.

"When the 14th Finance Commission was being passed by the Parliament, all the Congress MPs, including those who may now be with the breakaway faction headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy, had voted in its favour.

"So these parties have no moral right to raise a hue and cry over the issue of special category status for Andhra Pradesh", he said.

"Ironically, TDP which is our ally and the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh at present too had voted in favour of the 14th Finance Commission.

"But its lower rung leadership seems to be very vociferous in the demand for special category status for AP. The top leadership of both BJP and TDP has already sat together and discussed the issue.

"The TDP leadership has been told that even if it were not possible to call AP a special category status, the NDA government at the Centre would ensure that it got all the privileges which it had been entitled to following a formal declaration", Singh said.

"Moreover, it has been explained to the TDP leadership that after GST, the tax regime in the country will be undergoing a radical change.

"The various revenue benefits that people usually associate with special category status, would become redundant once GST comes into force.

"But, the Centre is seriously thinking over the issue and the people of Andhra Pradesh, including our friends in TDP, will in the end have no reasons to complain", he said.