No special status for A.P., but we will give support: Jaitley

Jaitley assures the House that the government is committed to keeping all its promises and will fulfil all its responsibilities.

After facing tough questions from the Opposition in Parliament over the implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, the government said on Friday that it would not grant special status to the State.

At a short-duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha on whether the government was interested in implementing the Act, which led to the creation of Telangana, as promised by the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that instead of allotting it a special constitutional entitlement, the government would “handhold” Andhra Pradesh until it became economically stable. This caused uproar, with Congress members staging a walkout.

While Mr. Jaitley acknowledged that Andhra Pradesh lost revenue after Telangana was carved out of it in 2014, he said the Centre had limited resources and it would do its “best” to improve the economic condition of the State.

“As far as our commitment to honour each one of these commitments is concerned, it is absolute; there are no ifs and buts. Forty-two per cent of the Central revenue goes to States. The rest 58% has to take care of defence, salaries, loans... We also have to support Central schemes. After that, the Central government has a deficit. This year, it is 3.9%,” Mr. Jaitley said.

Congress walks out

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said Mr. Jaitley’s reply was not up to the mark. Soon, he and his party members walked out.

Earlier, Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu defended the government over its handling of the issue. Since he’s also Union Minister for Urban Development, he cited some figures to justify the government’s decision not to grant special status. “As many as 1,93,000 houses were sanctioned to Andhra Pradesh, especially for those moving from Hyderabad and settling in Andhra Pradesh,” he said.

Naidu disappointed

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu expressed disappointment over the denial of Special Category Status (SCS) by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Addressing the media in Hyderabad late on Friday evening, Mr Naidu regretted that injustice had been done to A.P. , Mr. Naidu asked what the BJP had done for the State apart from holding the Congress responsible for bifurcation. Eleven parties have supported A.P’s claim to SCS but the BJP remained indifferent to it for reasons best known to it, he said.