The Aam Aadmi Party has asked the Centre to grant special status to Punjab and include it in the list of Special Category States (SCS), besides demanding a revision in the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission.
All-party meet sought
The party has also written to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to convene an all-party meeting on these issues so that a collective case can be presented on behalf of the people of Punjab.
“Punjab has a much stronger case than even States like Andhra Pradesh, which are seeking special status and inclusion in the list of SCS. While special status will help meet the political aspirations of the people through legislative means, its inclusion in SCS will help the State come out of its economic and financial mess,” said AAP leader and MLA Kanwar Sandhu on Thursday.
He had recently written two separate letters to the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley raising the demands.
Mr. Sandhu said if terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission were not revised, Punjab would be even harder hit in terms of devolution of funds from the Centre than States like Karnataka and Kerala, which are making a similar demand.
