: The Central government is expected to make an announcement on Special Category Status and special package to Andhra Pradesh soon.
According to Union Minister Y. Satyanarayana (Sujana) Chowdary, the Prime Minister’s Office is in the process of preparing a draft on SCS as well as other assurances given to the State at the time of bifurcation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make an announcement on the issue after obtaining legal opinion once the draft is finalised.
Mr. Chowdary was speaking after participating in a meeting attended by BJP national president Amit Shah and Union Ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley. The meeting, which lasted about two hours, was convened to review the situation in A.P. and chalk out the course of action that should be adopted to fulfil the assurances given to the State. The meeting comes in the light of the Central government’s assurance to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu that concentration would henceforth be on the implementation of the promises made to the State on the floor of Parliament. The Centre had, in the past, promised that crucial decisions pertaining to the State would be taken after duly consulting the latter.
Polavaram project
In addition to SCS and packages assured to the State, the discussion centred on the release of funds for the Polavaram project, declared as a national project, and creation of a separate railway zone for the new State with Visakhapatnam as headquarters. Later, Mr. Sujana Chowdary was closeted with Mr. Jaitley for half an hour where he is understood to have highlighted the aspirations of the people of Andhra Pradesh where SCS has become an emotional issue.
