Govt. considering ordinance route to confer special status on Seemandhra

The UPA government is believed to be exploring the possibility of promulgating an ordinance to confer ‘Special Category State’ status on Seemandhra as promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha during the debate on Telangana Bill.

The issue could come up at Friday’s Cabinet Meeting.

A day after

The Hindu reported that Seemandhra does not fulfil the criteria for special status and only the National Development Council alone can alter the norms, Jairam Ramesh, a key member of the Group of Ministers that drafted the Telangana Bill, wrote to Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on the issue.

Mr. Ramesh had said the GoM originally wanted the revenue from Hyderabad divided, post-bifurcation, between Telangana and Seemandhra. But the idea had to be dropped after Constitution experts pointed out that revenue from a State could not be shared with another.