Modi govt’s ‘hands tied’ on special category status for AP, says Siddharth Singh

New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday, asserted that the Centre was committed to ensuring that Andhra Pradesh get all the assistance it required in the wake of the creation of Telangana, but claimed that Modi government’s “hands are tied” when it came to the grant of special category status.

“The Congress had raised the promise of special status for Andhra Pradesh as an electoral gimmick during the Lok Sabha polls,” says BJP National Secretary for Andhra Pradesh Siddharth Nath Singh told reports.

“People must be made aware that under the rule of the same Congress, the 14th Finance Commission was passed in the Parliament. The Commission clearly states that henceforth no state shall be given special category status,” he said.

“So the hands of the Modi government are tied on this issue”, BJP national secretary in-charge for Andhra Pradesh told PTI in Allahanad.

“Ironically, TDP which is our ally and the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh at present too had voted in favour of the 14th Finance Commission. But its lower rung leadership seems to be very vociferous in the demand for special category status for AP. The top leadership of both BJP and TDP has already sat together and discussed the issue,” he further said.

“The TDP leadership has been told that even if it were not possible to call AP a special category status, the NDA government at the Centre would ensure that it got all the privileges which it had been entitled to following a formal declaration”, Singh said.

“But, the Centre is seriously thinking over the issue and the people of Andhra Pradesh, including our friends in TDP, will in the end have no reasons to complain”, he said.