Both the national parties have crippled Andhra, says Jayadev Galla

The saga of Andhra Pradesh during the Modi and Shah regime is a saga of empty promises & unfulfilled commitments by the Government of India to the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh, says Jayadev Galla

Madam, the latest Telugu blockbuster Bharat Ane Nenu, which means ‘I Bharat’ is a story about a young NRI who returns to India after his father, who was a CM dies, suddenly. Bharat enters politics reluctantly and becomes a young, dynamic and beloved CM. The recurring theme in this movie is about trust and Bharat recalls his mother’s advice — a promise is a promise and if a man makes a promise and does not keep it, then he does not have the right to call himself a man. It was a blockbuster because the general mood of the people reflects well in this film. People are tired of empty assurances and unfulfilled commitments. The saga of Andhra Pradesh during the Modi and Shah regime is just that — a saga of empty promises and unfulfilled commitments by the Government of India to the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh, a new state with an old name and a population of five crores (50 million).

Madam Speaker, non-implementation of an act of Parliament is a national issue. Non-implementation of assurances given by none other than the then Prime Minister on the floor of the Parliament during the consideration of the AP Re-organisation Bill, without which this Bill would not have been passed, is also a national issue. So, it is not prudent to say that the issues of Andhra Pradesh are not national issues. They are certainly national issues and also emotional issues for the people of Andhra Pradesh and today is the litmus test for Parliament on how it ensures the implementation of these and other similar issues.

Madam Speaker, when the President of BJP met the BJP Core Committee members, including MPs, MLAs and MLCs, from AP on March 17 at Delhi, he declared to wage a war on the Telugu Desam Party. It is not a war between the BJP and the TDP. It is a war between majority and morality. It is a war between the Modi regime and Andhra Pradesh and the five-crore (50-million) people of Andhra Pradesh. It is a war against discrimination shown by the Modi regime towards Andhra Pradesh. It is a war to honour an Act of Parliament and an assurance made by a Prime Minister in Parliament. It is a war between the authoritarian Machiavellian attitude of the Modi regime and the rights of the states that make up the federal republic of India. It is a dharma poratam or dharma yudh. I request the House not to construe my views and observations in the narrow sense but to look at them in a larger perspective of how the relationship should have been between the Centre and States under the federal structure.

Madam Speaker, this No Confidence Motion has been brought by the TDP for four reasons, namely, fairness, trust, priority and bias or rather, lack of fairness, lack of trust, lack of priority and lack of an unbiased approach towards Andhra Pradesh. Lack of fairness is about the unscientific and undemocratic bifurcation and its impact on the people of AP. Lack of trust is about where the Modi regime has used misleading, delaying, denying, deflecting, confusing, collusive and coercion tactics to betray the people of AP. Lack of priority is because AP is getting the least priority and lack of unbiased approach is because funds were given to AP are far less than what is being given to other projects across India. ... I will be focussing on these four aspects. With your permission, I will be focussing on the special category status and the financial-related issues of AP Reorganisation Act...

Jayadev Galla (Photo: Twitter @JayGalla)

It has been four years since the Bill has been passed and two new states were formed. One is an old state with a new name and the other is a new state with an old name. Telangana is not a new state. Andhra Pradesh is the new state. All the challenges and burdens to be faced by a new state are being faced by us. We are the ones who have to build the new capital, an industrial base and an educational base while Telangana has all of them already. ... [T]he uncertainty and difficulties date back to several decades. It intensified in the decade leading up to bifurcation and we continue to struggle even after four years of bifurcation with the same uncertainty. ... [T]he Modi regime is creating more uncertainties and more challenges for us. I am not going back in history but I will certainly go back to 2014 when AP was divided. We all know how… undemocratically, inequitably, arbitrarily, irrationally and by bulldozing the entire Parliament, the AP Reorganisation Bill was passed. 

AP was divided in an undemocratic way. In an undemocratic way the Bill was passed in this Parliament. The doors were closed and cameras were off. Madam, when AP was divided, AP was burdened with a huge revenue deficit of Rs 16,000 crore (Rs 160 billion). An amount of Rs 1.3 lakh crore (Rs 1.3 trillion) of loan burden was put on AP. And, Rs 24,000 crore (Rs 240 billion) of the undivided loan was put on AP for which interest is still being paid by the government of AP which shattered our FRBM limits.

Power allocation was made on consumption basis. Andhra Pradesh is the loser. Refund of tax liability was made on the basis of population, at 58 per cent for Andhra Pradesh and at 42 per cent for Telangana. Andhra Pradesh is the loser again. So, we have very limited revenue generation sources... Assets had been given on the basis of their location. Andhra Pradesh lost Rs 3,800 crore (Rs 38 billion) because of this. Singareni Collieries, a Schedule IX company, was given to Telangana with 51 per cent equity. But similar dispensation towards subsidy to APHMEL, which is also a Schedule IX company, has not been given to Andhra Pradesh. Is it equal justice, Madam? Madam, pension liabilities from the combined state, divided on the basis of population, at 58 per cent and 42 per cent, has burdened Andhra Pradesh even further.

Hence Madam, I have no hesitation to say that it was not just the Congress alone, but even the BJP, which had supported the Bill without insisting on the UPA government to make the Bill scientific and equitable, is equally guilty. Both the national parties have crippled Andhra Pradesh.

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Edited excerpts from a speech by Jayadev Galla, Telugu Desam Party MP from Guntur, on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on July 20