Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh is not a closed chapter, says V.V. Lakshminarayana

Jai Bharat National Party (JBNP) founder president calls for a struggle to achieve Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh.

The time has come for waging a struggle to achieve the assurances made by the Centre to the residual State of Andhra Pradesh under the A.P. Reorganisation Act, 2014, said Jai Bharat National Party (JBNP) founder president V.V. Lakshminarayana, reiterating that the issue of Special Category Status (SCS) was not a ‘closed chapter’.

A protest was organised under the aegis of ‘Pratyeka Hoda Vibhajana Hameela Sadhana Samiti’ at Gandhi Statue near the GVMC building on Tuesday. CPI district secretary M. Pydiraju presided over the meet.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Mr. Lakshminarayana recalled that the then Central government, on the basis of No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) issued by all political parties, had decided to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh and carve out the State of Telangana in 2014. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said in Parliament that SCS would be granted to A.P. for a period of five years. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was then in the opposition, had sought that SCS be given to A.P. for 10 years.

“It is unfortunate that no mention of SCS was made in the A.P. Reorganisation Act, 2014,” Mr. Lakshminarayana, who was earlier a member of the Jana Sena Party (JSP), said.

However, all political parties had mentioned in their 2014 election manifestos that they would grant SCS to A.P. if voted to power. In 2014, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), BJP and the JSP alliance came to power in A.P. However, the BJP-led government, which came to power at the Centre, declined to grant SCS to A.P., and offered a special package in lieu of SCS. The TDP, in power in A.P. at that time, agreed to accept the special package.

Ahead of the 2019 elections, all political parties in A.P., again included the issue of SCS for the State in their respective manifestos. Then Leader of Opposition Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced that he would secure SCS for the State if the voters were to reward his party with 25 Lok Sabha seats.

Mr. Lakshminarayana alleged that neither the TDP nor the YSRCP exerted pressure on the Centre, despite having ample opportunity to do so. Even JSP chief Pawan Kalyan failed to speak up on the SCS issue, he said, alleging that leaders of all three parties (YSRCP, TDP and JSP) were toeing the line of the BJP, ignoring the interests of the State.