Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday reiterated that the government was committed to giving Andhra Pradesh a special package equivalent to a special category status, and that it has been waiting endlessly for the Chandrababu Naidu administration to respond to their proposed scheme, PTI reported.
Jaitley had made similar remarks on March 7.
His statement on Friday came hours after Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party pulled out of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance because the Centre had not agreed to its demand to give Andhra Pradesh a special category status. Later in the day, the party moved a no-confidence motion against the central government in the Lok Sabha.
Jaitley claimed the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government had agreed to a framework to receive a special package in September 2016. He said the Centre had agreed to a change the state government had suggested in the modalities, but that was the last they had heard on it from Chief Minister Naidu’s administration.
“A solution has been put on the table,” Jaitley told PTI. “It is for Andhra Pradesh to decide whether they want the resources or they want to make an issue [out of it].
The Telugu Desam Party has been demanding greater financial assistance for Andhra Pradesh since its bifurcation in 2014. Jaitley on Friday said the Centre has been fully committed to providing the funds to the state and there has been no delay on its part.
On March 7, the TDP had pulled out its MPs Ashok Gajapathi Raju and YS Chowdary from the Union Cabinet. Chowdary was the minister of state for science and technology and earth sciences, while Raju was in charge of the civil aviation ministry.
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