Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh was technically not feasible as the devolution of taxes to the States had been increased from 32% to 42% after the BJP came to power, party State president Kanna Lakshminarayana said on Sunday. Addressing the media here, he said this was amply made clear by the NITI Aayog and, as an alternative, a special package had been conceived, but former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu chose to publicly malign the image of the BJP.
Dig at Naidu
Mr. Lakshminarayana, replying to a question on the alleged neglect of Central University here, said it was given ₹960 crore after setting it up along with 16 other institutions. But Mr. Naidu chose not to allocate land with clear title to it and utilise the funds, he added.
Responding to the charge that only ₹10 crore was sanctioned to the university in the recent budget, he said it was only for creation of a Head of Account, and ₹100 crore could be spent on it if the State government provided land and water.
He alleged that Mr. Naidu had allocated land under litigation for two other institutions too, which delayed the process of bringing them to operation. He said the TDP fell into the trap of YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on the SCS issue.
He charged the Left parties with creating a bad atmosphere by repeatedly staging agitations. As per the SCS provisions, the State would have got ₹5,000 crore. But the Centre assured to give ₹16,000 crore under the special package, he said.
