Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs M. Venkaiah Naidu today squarely blamed the Congress and the then UPA Government at the Centre for the present controversy surrounding the granting of special status to Andhra Pradesh.
It may be mentioned here that when the AP Reorganization Act was introduced in Parliament during the UPA regime last year for carving out a separate Telangana State, an assurance was made to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh keeping in view its financial crunch.
As a matter of fact, as BJP member in Rajya Sabha, Venkaiah Naidu had insisted that AP should be granted special status whereupon the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh agreed to the same. However, after the BJP-led NDA came to power at the Centre, the special status issue continues to remain only on paper. Surprisingly, Venkaiah Naidu, who mooted the demand in Parliament when the Reorganization Act was taken up, even after becoming a member of the Narendra Modi Cabinet seemed to be shying away in this matter.
While the special status issue seemed to be slowly snowballing into a major controversy what with the commencement of indefinite fast by film actor and BJP supporter Shivaji, the Congress too tried to fish in the troubled waters by launching a scathing attack on the BJP for going back in implementing the assurances made in the Reorganization Act.
Reacting sharply to the criticism of the Congress over the special status to AP issue, Venkaiah Naidu tried to wriggle out of a tricky situation by putting the onus on the Congress and the then UPA Government. If the Congress and the UPA government had enacted a law in this regard, the issue would be have been resolved long back. He also accused the Congress leaders of not raising their voice in support when he had insisted for a special status to AP. “Thus, these Congress leaders have no moral right to criticize the BJP in this regard”, he observed and appealed to the Opposition not to politicize the issue.
Venkaiah Naidu further said he was discussing the issue with the Union Home and Finance Ministries in this regard to resolve the same at the earliest. As regards the deficit budget being faced by the AP State, the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission is being reviewed to find ways and means to ensure that the State would come out of the financial crunch. The issue of setting up of a separate High Court for Telangana State was also under active consideration of the Union government and hence there was no need for creating a fuss on this aspect, he observed. (NSS)