The demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh continues to haunt the NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He might have silenced his political ally TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu by offering special financial package, but the opposition parties do not want the special category status chapter to be closed so easily.
On Tuesday, the Rajya Sabha witnessed intense debate over the special category status. Making a special mention in the Upper House, senior Congress party MP K V P Ramachandra Rao said it was wrong on the part of the NDA government to deny special category status to AP on the pretext of recommendation by the 14th finance commission.
He pointed out that nowhere had the finance commission mentioned that there was no need to grant special category status to any state.
The promise was given by none other than former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the floor of the House, so it was the responsibility of the present government to fulfil the same.
Congress members Digvijay Singh, Jairam Ramesh, T Subbarami Reddy, Ghulam Nabi Azad and YSR Congress party MP V Vijay Sai Reddy strongly pitched for the special category status.
Surprisingly, even Telangana MPs Rapolu Anand Bhaskar and K Kesava Rao also supported the demand, causing embarrassment to the BJP.
The Modi government may not give the special category status to AP, but it would definitely be counterproductive to the TDP and the BJP in the next elections.
