Advertisement
Home PoliticsGossip

BJP Gives Up On Special Status For AP

Will Andhra Pradesh end up being majorly disappointed?

The latest story in political circles is that the Saffron party which had insisted on allotting special status to newly carved Andhra Pradesh and was pushing for giving major tax benefits to the state; is making no special efforts to make these a reality after it has been voted to power at the Centre.

A leading English daily has written an analytical news story saying that after the NDA government came to power at the Centre, many had expected that the BJP would work towards conferring special status on Andhra Pradesh. But now, the situation appears to be totally different, the story says.

The state politicians and bureaucrats have realized that special status may not become a reality after high-ranking officials from the Centre have made it clear that the move may not materialize any time soon. The story also mentions that tax benefits and cut in custom duties may not happen.

The story has listed various reasons for the same. One of the primary arguments put up by the Centre is that it may not be possible to give special status to Andhra Pradesh as nothing has been done for Bihar so far, despite it being a much backward state when compared to AP. Also, since the tax system is being overhauled all over the country, giving special cuts to AP may not be possible.

Another reason is that in the past, it was assumed that AP might have a huge deficit budget. But now, it is being said that the tax deficit may be around Rs 1500 crores, which is not a huge amount.

The story says that given the circumstances, BJP government might announce a package of Rs 15000 crores to Andhra Pradesh and that amount would be given in installments spread across many years.

Earlier, it was felt that if AP got special status, it would attract huge investments from big companies. But Tamil Nadu government opposed the move even then.

It is being said that the BJP leaders are in no position to give special status to Andhra Pradesh.

In the past, Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley had questioned the then Congress government and provided special provisions for giving special status to AP. However, after their party came to power, they seem to be singing a different song altogether. Is it fair?

RELATED ARTICLES