Chandrababu Naidu bluffing on Special Category Status, says Himachal CM Jai Ram Thakur

Tirupati: Asserting that Andhra Pradesh could not get Special Category Status (SCS) (SCS) not because of Centre but due to the 14th Finance Commission recommendations, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Sunday. He said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was bluffing on SCS only to malign the BJP and the Centre.

Speaking at the BJP's State meeting here on Sunday, Thakur without mincing words said that Naidu despite knowing well that Special Category Status was not given to AP due to the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission which was in fact set up by the previous UPA government, he was deliberately misleading the people of the State by his non-stop propagation that his State is the only one that was denied SCS by the Centre.

"I as the Chief Minister of the hilly Himachal Pradesh, which was enjoying SCS earlier clearly state that my State lost the status following the implementation of the 14th Finance Commission recommendations after the new government came in 2014 after hiking the tax share of the States as per the recommendations,'' he reiterated.

Seeking the party cadres to work with renewed vigour to take the truth behind the SCS to Andhra Pradesh and to expose Naidu who is making a hue and cry on the issue after deriving maximum benefits from the Centre, he maintained that no other State was able to get such support from the Centre as AP was since 2014.

After the NDA came to power, Andhra Pradesh had got Rs 5.56 lakh crore against UPA which had sanctioned only Rs 1.16 lakh crore for five years, he said affirming that most of institutions assured to the State were also set up while creation of infrastructure facilities was also going on in full steam.

Sharpening his attack on Chandrababu Naidu, he said the Centre is keen on development of Andhra Pradesh irrespective of party or person in power and funding liberally. But the funds are being pocketed by Naidu's men, he said alleging large-scale corruption and misuse of funds by the ruling TDP and observed that the AP Chief Minister had let down Prime Minister Modi by attacking him after availing all the benefits.

The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister dwelled at length on the infrastructure development in the State including airports, national highways and also national-level institutions set up rapidly in the State one after another to drive home his point that Centre did its best for the development of the State and there is no truth in the charges levelled by Naidu against the BJP government.

He further said that Naidu benefited more with the BJP-TDP combine by coming to power riding on the charisma of Narendra Modi in 2014 election and by breaking the coalition now it would be a loss to TDP and not to BJP.

BJP State president Kanna Lakshminarayana urged the party workers to rededicate themselves to work hard in the election for bringing back Modi as Prime Minister. He wanted the activists to take the achievements made by the BJP government under the able guidance of Narendra Modi to the people.

Later, party State coordinator Sunil Deora spoke on how the party activists should conduct the election campaign based on the developments achieved by Modi government and party general secretary Ram Madhav in his address told the cadres that it is again NaMo who will be the winner in 2019 elections.