Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to Andhra Pradesh to address a public meeting at Guntur on January 6 led to a speculation that he might make an announcement of special category status to the state as a special case in view of growing sentiment among the people.
The talk was that if Modi makes such a statement, it would not only bring a lot of mileage to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Andhra Pradesh, but also clear the decks for the BJP’s alliance with the YSR Congress party and Jana Sena Party to take on the Telugu Desam Party.
However, all these speculations came to a naught on Tuesday when the Centre made it clear on the floor of Rajya Sabha once again that there is no question of granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh, irrespective of the protests by the parliament members and also people in the state.
In a written reply to TDP member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar, the Centre asserted that it was not possible to grant special status in AP as it had already allotted special package, as a substitute to special status, to the state.
It noted that special commission was not possible as per the 14th finance commission' report and said that financial assistance was being given through foreign financial institutions.
Now, it will be interesting to see how the BJP would appease the voters of Andhra Pradesh during Modi’s meeting and its subsequent bus yatra.
At the most, it would focus on attacking Naidu government’s failures, rather than explaining its own contribution to the development of Andhra Pradesh!
