Cabinet nod for Prez rule in AP

• Once President gives his assent, his rule comes into effect
• State Assembly will be kept under suspended animation
• The term of current Assembly expires on June 2, 2014
• Elections to be held in the united State
• After Prez consent, a special panel will be set up on the capital

Sops announced for both states

• Kendriya Vidyalayas for Seemandhra, in Kadapa, Guntur, East Godavari districts
• National Institute of Design in Vijayawada (It was earlier proposed for Hyd)
• Seven KVs for Telangana, at Warangal, Secunderabad, Nalgonda, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Medak and Nizamabad

Other Cabinet decisions

• Workdays for tribals under MGNREGA raised from 100 to 150
• Approval for 54 new Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) during 12th Plan
• Consideration of anti-graft ordinances on key Bills deferred
• Govt approves additional `464.78 crore for GSLV Mk-III
• LS poll expenditure per candidate raised to a maximum of Rs 70 lakh for bigger States and Rs 54 lakh for smaller States
• Dearness allowance for Central staff hiked to 100 per cent from 90 per cent
• Minimum monthly pension set at `1,000 under EPFO
• Govt approves proposals worth `3,500 crore for AIR, DD
• LPG consumers can buy more than one subsidized cylinder a month
• Salaries of over 50 lakh Central staff to be revised

New Delhi: Little over a week after Kiran Kumar Reddy resigned as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, the Centre on Friday decided to impose President’s Rule in the State, while announcing a few sops for the Seemandhra region which has been opposing creation of Telangana State. The Cabinet also decided to place the State Assembly under suspended animation, whose term is slated to end on June 2.

After Delhi, Andhra Pradesh will be the second state to be placed under the President' Rule, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Once President Pranab Mukherjee gives his assent to the Cabinet decision, the President’s rule will become effective. Along with this decision, the Cabinet gave approval to proposals for Seemandhra region, including setting up of three Kendriya Vidyalaya schools and a premier National Institute of Design (NID).

The three Kendriya Vidyalayas will be set up in Guntur, East Godavari and Kadapa districts. It involves an investment of Rs 109 crores. The NID was earlier planned to be set up in Hyderabad in the Telangana region. For Telangana region, the Union Cabinet decided to set up seven Kendriya Vidyalayas which would be located at Warangal, Secunderabad, Nalgonda, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Medak and Nizamabad.

Seeking to put an end to the controversy on giving the Special Category Status to Seemandhra, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh cited the example of the Vajpayee government which granted the status to Uttarakhand through a Cabinet decision and later merely informed the National Development Council.

The Prime Minister, who is the Chairman of the Planning Commission, had made a statement in Parliament on February 20, giving Special Category Status to Seemandhra for a period of five year, though Sonia Gandhi had demanded it for 10 years. The Minister insisted that the demand for Special Status did not come from BJP as claimed by the party.

When BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu met Prime Minister on February 19, they did not voice the demand for Special Category Status to Seemandhra, where Ministers like Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and Parliamentary Minister Kamal Nath besides him were present. The demand, Jairam said, actually came from the Ministers, MPs and MLAs belonging to the Seemandhra region when they met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and AICC Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

He said that the Special Category Status could have been incorporated in the Bill itself but that would have delayed the passage of the Bill. After amendment in the Rajya Sabha, it required to be taken back to the Lok Sabha for ratification, which had already cleared the Bill. Due to the paucity of time, it was not included in the Bill. Jairam Ramesh said that soon after the Presidential assent to the AP Reorganisation Bill, an expert committee will be set up, which will identify the new capital for the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh.

He said that various suggestions have come for locating the capital in Kurnool, Vijayawada, Amravati and Vishakapatnam. The Committee will take the final call after consulting the stakeholders and interest groups. Though it has been given a six-month timeframe, it is expected to complete its work within two to three months.