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How Centre came up with Special Assistance
What prolonged the announcement of the Special Assistance to AP on Wednesday in lieu of the Special Category Status anticipated by the AP Government and much touted by the TDP leadership?
​New Delhi: What prolonged the announcement of the Special Assistance to AP on Wednesday in lieu of the Special Category Status anticipated by the AP Government and much touted by the TDP leadership?
It is the wording it seems.
Even as the 7-page draft was passed to and fro with corrections on specific mentions (of fund amount), there were several sentences which initially Chandrababu Naidu did not agree to phrases like "shall and will" do not convey any sense and a more meaningful document was needed, he reportedly conveyed to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley through Y S Chowdary, Union Minster of State and TDP MP.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi being away from the Capital, the PMO was reluctant to act on its own on the changes unless the PM cleared it himself. By the time all these changes were made carefully, the draft got diluted much and it could not contain any statistics regarding 'exact assistance".
Naidu, it was said, did not want a copy of the Reorganization Act as it would only amount to yet another list of promises. But, the Finance Ministry was unwilling to commit itself on issues related to other Ministries. It was also not sure how much funding the Polavaram would be requiring except stating that it would bear all the expenditure.
Then there was the issue of revenue deficit on which Centre was insisting that it should emerge later after due assessment. Chandrababu Naidu wanted specific commitments on each and everything, including on the setting up of a steel plant and the new railway zone. Finally, with the PMO nudge the Finance Minister said enough is enough and declared that all such specifications would follow later.
The Centre finally stated that the details would be "on display only after getting duly vetted". However, it turned out to be a mere reiteration of all the promises made by the BJP-led Centre.
The State Government could conveniently claim that the Centre was being forced to cough up around Rs 1.5 lakh crore to AP in lieu of the Special Category Status, but the Centre reduced the figures pointing out that Rs 64,000 crore were already promised on national highways and another Rs 52,000 crore on the petro chemcial complex and university.
Put together all such funds, it would amount to Rs 1.5 lakh crore, perhaps. The question remains: What is new? What has the State gained? Just one more assurance!
