Rahul Gandhi demands special category status for AP ahead of PM's visit

Narendra Modi will be going to Vijayawada on October 22 to lay the foundation stone for Amaravati

AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi today demanded that PM Narendra Modi grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh, ahead of the Prime Minister's visit to the state for laying of foundation stone for the new capital, Amaravati.

"Since you are visiting Andhra Pradesh to lay the foundation stone for its new capital Amaravati, I would like to urgently request you to use this opportunity to grant special category status and announce a time frame for the fulfillment of the commitments made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act," he said in a letter.

The question of granting special category status to AP has become a major political issue after the opposition parties in the state stepped up their demand for the same following the statements made by some Central Ministers earlier this year that the special category status to AP may not be possible.

Rahul Gandhi in his letter criticised that one year has elapsed since the NDA government has come to power, but many of the commitments made to the state, including the Special Category Status, remained unfulfilled.

"I have been to Andhra Pradesh twice over the last year. Everywhere I went, I could sense the severe disappointment and pain the people were in due to the Centre's failure to honour its commitments. Today the state is facing a huge revenue deficit and development initiatives are at a virtual standstill. Dispite the obvious need for immediate aid, the Centre has still not acted to extend support,"Gandhi said.

During the process of reorganisation, one of the major concerns of the people of Andhra Pradesh was the economic viability of their state.To address these concerns, "the UPA government was careful to include a comprehensive development package for Andhra Pradesh within the Act itself. For further support, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also announced a special category status to AP and the same was approved by the UPA cabinet and sent to the Planning Commission for implementation," the letter stated.

Prime Minister Modi is coming to Vijayawada on October 22 to lay the foundation stone for Amaravati.