PM betraying people of Andhra by denying special category status to state: Cong

The Congress on Wednesday accused the government of betraying the people of Andhra Pradesh by denying 'special category status' to the state and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "trampling upon Constitutionalism" by disregarding the promise made by his predecessor Manmohan Singh.

It is time for Modi and the BJP to "walk their talk", Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said and added that the government is a continuing entity..

"Trampling upon Constitutionalism and backstabbing the trust of people have become synonymous with the BJP. The new BJP government has broken its first solemn promise by bluntly refusing to grant 'special category status' to Andhra Pradesh and disrespecting the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014," Surjewala said in a statement.

He said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (who hails from Andhra Pradesh) stated in Parliament that "there was no proposal under consideration of the Central government to grant Special Category Status (SCS) to any state",