“The Narendra Modi government at the Centre is betraying the people of Andhra Pradesh by not implementing the A.P. Reorganisation Act, particularly by not according the special category status,” senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said here on Friday.
Asked if according special category status was a difficult task, the former Union Minister said it was already being enjoyed by as many 11 States (8 North-Eastern States, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand). “The promise made by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on February 20, 2014 was approved by the Union Cabinet on March 1 and the Planning Commission was directed to implement it,” he noted.
“Nothing can stop the Centre from granting such a status to AP,” Mr. Ramesh said, adding:
“The Vajpayee government in the past had given special status to Uttarakhand in 2002, though the State was formed in 2000, without even taking the Cabinet approval initially. It was, however, ratified by the National Development Council, and the Planning Commission implemented it. There was neither an NDC nor a Planning Commission in place now to implement it,” he said.
