Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Friday appealed to the Centre to uphold the promise he made to Andhra Pradesh two years ago and grant special status to the state. He made the statement in the Rajya Sabha, after Congress member KVP Ramachandra Rao introduced the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill in the Upper House, The Hindu reported.
Singh said that on February 20, 2014, he had committed to granting the state special status and that his Cabinet had also approved an ordinance on the matter. But the implementation of the ordinance was delayed as the model code of conducted had come into effect ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he added.
However, the Bill was referred to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, with Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley maintaining that it was a money Bill that can only be taken up by the Lower House. Congress members protested against this decision in the Well, even though Jaitley assured them that the government will uphold all legal conditions stipulated in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
The finance minister had told the Lok Sabha on August 2 that the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre was looking into Andhra Pradesh’s demand for a special category status. His response came amid sloganeering by members of the Telugu Desam Party and the Yuvajana, Sramika, Rythu Congress in the Lower House regarding the issue. The same day, a statewide bandh called by YSR Congress, supported by the Congress and the Left, brought Andhra to a standstill.
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