Stop hokey pokey with AP

Jayadev asks PM to make stand clear on Spl Status

New Delhi: Upset over the stand taken by the Centre that it cannot change the AP Reorganisation Act and hence it cannot give special status to Andhra Pradesh, MP Galla Jayadev told the NDA government that their patience was evaporating and urged the Prime Minister to clarify how it would compensate the state before the people come on to the streets.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Jayadev said the Prime Minister should make it clear as to what he will give, when he will give, how much he will give and how he will give to the state. He said the written reply by Union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha to TDP MP Avanti Srinivas had pained the people of AP.

“I wish to ask which Finance Commission had recommended Special Status to Uttarakhand and North Eastern states.” “BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu had strongly demanded Special Status to AP for 10 years,” he said and reminded of the Prime Minister’s speeches during his election meetings. “If AP got special status it was because of Venkaiah Naidu.

This statement of the Prime Minister had raised the hopes of the people in the state but now they feel “betrayed,” Jayadev said. “Special status was not an empty promise. It was an assurance given by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the BJP leaders had claimed it as their victory. Now they say it is not part of the Act but did they not know that while passing the AP State Reorganisation Act,” the TDP member asked. “If an assurance by the Prime Minister on the floor of the House does not have any sanctity then how can people trust any government,” he said.

Sounding a word of caution, Jayadev said: “If the government wants to manoeuver, they should know that we are not powerless. We showed the power to the Congress during the elections and they lost all the seats. People have started feeling that they are not getting justice and if the promise is not kept they will see the government as a villain,” he added. He said so far the BJP had an image that it had divided the states in a scientific manner during its earlier regime but by denying Special Status to AP that image would take a beating.

Jayadev also reeled out statistics about the funds the state should have got and what was given. He said it fell short on all counts. Even for Polavaram, which is a national project, only about Rs 735 crore was given and at this rate the project would take five decades to be completed. The central grants given to AP were less than what Bundelkhand had got, he said.

Jayadev further said that the Centre should know that AP was not a non-performing state. The Centre should see the help it extends as investment and not expenditure. “If you invest we will make a turnaround in shortest possible time and will become a growth engine for the country,” he said. He said the bifurcation was thrust on the people and now the statements and acts of Parliament were pushing it into greater trouble.

Avanti Srinivas told The Hans India that the BJP had promised to give Special Status. They have to give Special Status, fill the revenue gap and also give a separate railway zone, he added. Meanwhile, the YSRCP wrote a letter to the TDP asking it to issue an ultimatum to the Centre on the issue. The Left parties also demanded that the TDP should make its stand clear.