Actor-turned politician and Jana Sena founder Pawan Kalyan asked the Central Government to fulfill the promises made to Andhra Pradesh at the time of bifurcation, failing which there could be unrest among the people, which would go against the interests of the country.
“It is the duty of the government to fulfil the assurances made in the Parliament. The government’s failure to fulfill its assurances has the potential to fuel separatist movements among the people,” he said. The Jana Sena founder convened a meeting of intellectuals, retired officials and political party representatives that formed a Joint Fact Finding Committee (JFC) to study the promises made to the successor State of AP and the status of their implementation.
Lok Satta founder Jayaprakash Narayan, CPI (M) leader P. Madhu, CPI representative K. Ramakrishna, Congress representative Gidugu Rudraraju and former AP Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao were among those who attended the meeting. The meeting decided to constitute a sub-committee headed by retired bureaucrats M. Padmanabhaiah, Mr. Krishna Rao and T. Chandrasekhar to study the implementation of the promises made to the State and present a report. In the study, the sub-committee would look into aspects like fiscal deficit, status of backward regions, tax concessions, institutions, basic infrastructure, special category status/special package, funds for the construction of the capital and exclusive railway zone for AP post bifurcation.
Mr. Pawan Kalyan later said one of the prime reasons behind his entry into politics was the ‘injustice’ done to AP through the “unscientific” bifurcation.
He announced that JFC would continue to meet. It was decided to constitute sub-committees of experts on each issue for finalising the course of action to be adopted to mount pressure on the Centre to fulfil its assurances. “This is just the beginning and the exercise will continue till the State gets its due,” he said. Mr. Jayaprakash Narayan said the JFC would finalise its course of action after the committee of retired bureaucrats submits its report. “People will lose confidence in democracy if the assurances made by the Prime Minister in the Parliament are not implemented,” he said.
Meanwhile, the JFC filed an RTI application at the Centre seeking to know the promises made by the government in Parliament during bifurcation of the State and the progress of their implementation.
