Cong MP writes to PM demanding special status for AP

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Andhra Pradesh on March 1, Congress leader KVP Ramachandra Rao has demanded that the PM immediately issue instructions for implementation of provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, including special category status to the state.

In a letter to Modi, the Rajya Sabha MP said the state's people "strongly feel" that it is the "bounden duty" of the prime minister and his cabinet colleagues to implement the Act passed by Parliament.

Rao said other pending demands such as establishing a separate railway zone, special economic package to Rayalaseema and Uttarandhra districts, and granting sufficient funds for the Polavaram project be implemented before the primer minister's visit to the state.

"The people of the state strongly feel that it is the bounden duty of the Indian prime minister and his cabinet colleagues to implement an Act passed by the Parliament of India under the provisions of the Indian Constitution and assented by the president of India," he said.

The MP claimed that the state's people believe that the "failure to implement provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, is a failure of a prime minister to obey the oath of office and affirmation taken by him and, thus, he has no right to come before the public and request them to vote in favour of his political party".

People strongly consider that the Modi-led BJP government at the Centre has "no resolve" to do justice to Andhra Pradesh, Rao said in his letter.

The government only needs to pass executive orders to implement the Act's provisions as it has already been passed by Parliament and assented by the president, he said.

Rao, a Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh, said if the prime minister still chooses not to implement the Act in true letter and spirit, "history will remember you, not only for your deceit on the people of Andhra Pradesh, but also your disrespect towards Parliament and its sovereign supremacy".

"The people of the state are also witnessing the true colours of the BJP and its allied parties since (the past) five years...," he said.

The government after coming to power has not fulfilled its promises to the people by "inventing frivolous and fictitious reasons," Rao alleged.

The people of the state are silently analysing the reasons being portrayed for rejecting various provisions of the Act by the "opportunistic" Modi government and the reality behind these rejections, he said in his letter to the prime minister.