New Delhi: Congress today gave a breach of privilege notice against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha, accusing him of misleading the House on the issue of according special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
In the notice to the Rajya Sabha Chairman, Congress MPs K V P Ramachandra Rao, Jairam Ramesh and Digvijay Singh charged Jaitley with committing breach of privilege of the House by hinting that the 14th Finance Commission had done away with the provision of according special category status to states. “The Finance Minister in his intervention on the Private Member’s Bill on Andhra Pradesh on Friday, July 29th, seemed to indicate that special category status for Andhra Pradesh is ruled out because of the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission,” they said in the notice.
They contended that the Finance Commission has nowhere in its report recommended the abolition of the concept of “special category” status for certain states. “All that it said is that for purposes of devolution, it was not categorising states. This is very different from claiming that it recommended doing away with special category status,” they said.
Jaitley’s intervention in the Rajya Sabha came during the discussion on the Private Member’s Bill moved by Rao seeking special status for Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh has been demanding Special Category State status from the Centre after its bifurcation and creation of Telangana to tide over the loss of sources of revenue, especially as resource-rich capital city Hyderabad also went to the new state.