Minister demands fair deal for AP, seeks FM's statement on it

The issue of grant of special status or a package to Andhra Pradesh today rocked Parliament, with a union minister belonging to BJP ally TDP, in an unprecedented move, urging Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to respond to the concerns raised by the members from the state.
The issue, on which the opposition in both Houses created an uproar supporting the members of TDP and YSR Congress, also forced the adjournment of the Rajya Sabha for about 90 minutes and a brief adjournment of the Lok Sabha.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Y S Chowdary, minister of state in the Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, said several projects under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act like the Polavaram project, a steel plant at Kadapa district and a separate railway zone for the state in Visakhapatnam have remained unaddressed.

"There should be respect of members and not the numbers. The finance minister should reply on this in 15 days... this is my suggestion," he said even as the MPs of the TDP and the YSR Congress protested on the issue in the Well.
It is rare that a minister makes such demands in the House.
Parliamentary Minister Ananth Kumar sought to assure Chowdary that the NDA government was "sensitive" to the issues raised by the people of Andhra Pradesh.

"The finance minister is going to speak on both these issues during his reply," Kumar said.
Kumar also appealed to MPs of TDP and YSR Congress to return to their seats as the finance minister will address the issue later in the day.

In the Upper House, Chowdary said the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act have not been implemented and the matter should be addressed by the Finance Minister when he replies to the debate on the general budget.
He also blamed both the BJP and the Congress for the "hasty passage" of the AP Reorganisation Act.
"On behalf of Government of India, I would like to mention here that this House is fully aware on how the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act was passed so unscientifically and unreasonably, for which both the national parties are responsible....
"In last three and half years, our government could not implement certain commitments given on behalf of the Act. My suggestion, if government is willing, ... is that there are some issues of special category status, bridging of resource gap and building of steel plant," Chowdary said.

Notwithstanding this, the present deadlock "has to be unlocked, one should talk of cooperative federalism and not be partly cooperative," he said.
"My suggestion, my request is that on behalf of government, if they can commit that the Finance Minister while delivering the budget speech, they can commit to resolve the issues within 15 days," Chowdary said.
Responding to this, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said "I want to assure the member that during the reply of the budget, the Finance Minister will sort out their issue."
When members objected to the remark by the Minister of State, Naidu said the stalemate on the issue needs to be resolved and a minister can suggest a solution.

Vijai Sai Reddy (TRS) said as per the provisions of the Constitution, a minister has a collective responsibility and he should resign since he does not agree with the decision of the Union Cabinet.
There were heated exchanges in the House over this and an agitated Chairman asked Reddy to sit, but he said he was ready to face action.
Congress member KVP Ramachandra Rao, who was in the Well carrying a placard saying "save Andhra Pradesh", returned to his seat after the Chairman asked him to do so.
As the opposition created an uproar, the Chairman adjourned the House around 12.20 PM till 2 PM.