Apparently yielding to pressure from the Joint Fact-finding Committee (JFC) constituted by Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan to divulge the details of the assistance (financial and otherwise) claimed to be extended by the Central government to it, the Government of Andhra Pradesh sent a 118-page report to the committee on Saturday.
A representative of the government delivered the report to the JSP leaders in the absence of Mr. Pawan Kalyan during the JFC’s deliberations in Hyderabad.
Pawan’s poser
During the deliberations, Mr. Pawan Kalyan questioned what was preventing the TDP and the YSR Congress Party from moving a no-confidence motion against the BJP-led NDA Government for reneging on its commitments.
Concurring with Mr. Pawan Kalyan’s view, former MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar said a no-confidence motion, not resignations by the MPs, was the need of the hour.
What it contains
The report contained the 19 assurances given to Andhra Pradesh, the expenditure incurred by it since bifurcation of the State, and actual disbursements by the Central government towards bridging the revenue deficit, construction of the Polavaram project etc.
With this, the JFC gets to unveil a part of the true picture as far as implementation of the A.P. Reorganisation Act is concerned.
Mr. Pawan Kalyan’s request for an official disclosure of the specific measures taken to undo the justice allegedly meted to A.P. at the time of bifurcation has so far not elicited any response either from the Centre or the BJP leadership, which maintained that they are accountable to the people and not any party.
Sub-committee formed
Meanwhile, the JFC formed a sub-committee, comprising K. Padmanabhaiah, former Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, former Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao, and retired IAS officer T. Chandrasekhar, to collate information from the Central government departments.
This is against the backdrop of an application filed under the Right to Information Act to the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking information regarding the status of assurances given under the Thirteenth Schedule (education and infrastructure) of the Act and those made by the Prime Minister in the Rajya Sabha on February 20, 2014.
