Amid the demands by the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders that the Centre must grant Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State general secretary S. Vishnuvardhan Reddy has said that it was a ‘settled issue’ and no State was given the tag after 2014.
Speaking to the media prior to the party’s internal meeting here on Monday, Mr. Vishnuvardhan Reddy said, “Then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had discussed the issue with the Centre and had accepted the Special Financial Package in 2017 in lieu of the SCS status mentioned in the A.P. Reorganisation Act of 2014.”
BJP national secretary Sunil Deodhar was also present at the venue and was supposed to address the media, but later refused to speak.
“A thanksgiving motion on the SCS issue was also passed in the State Assembly. Further, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has never asked for the SCS and it never figured in his talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi since his assuming of office in 2019,” said Mr. Vishnuvardhan Reddy.
‘Error in agenda’
Referring to the meeting on the long-pending issues pertaining to bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh including division of assets, employees, and deposits scheduled on February 17, the BJP leader said, “The SCS issue was not supposed to be discussed. However, due to some mistakes committed while finalising the agenda, the Joint Secretary-level officers included it in the agenda. It was later removed,” he said.
Mr. Vishnuvardhan Reddy questioned the Chief Minister if he would forego the special financial package and return other grants for the Polavaram project as a 100% Central project to seek the special category status? “Why was the Chief Minister silent over the issue till now? Let him clarify on this,” he added.
