With the Congress getting a cold shoulder from the Centre over their demand for Special Category status for Andhra Pradesh, the party has now decided to step up their fight and continue to raise the issue till the State gets its due.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Saturday through social media expressed his anguish over Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for not raising the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he came to the State for foundation ceremony for Andhra’s new capital Amaravati.
“Congress demands Special Status to AP and shall fight for it. Chandra Babu didn’t even demand in the function. You disappointed us Babu”, Digvijay Singh said in a tweet. Singh is in charge of Congress in Andhra Pradesh. The party has been highly critical of Naidu Govt for having failed to secure any concrete pledge of financial assistance from the PM.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had recently written to Modi for early grant of Special Category Status to Andhra, telling him about “disappointment and pain” among people over the Centre’s “failure” to honour its commitments. The party has now attacked even the PM for remaining silent on granting Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra.
“Over one year has elapsed since the NDA Government has come to power, but many of the commitments made to the State including special category status-remain unfulfilled”, Rahul had said in a letter to PM. Noting that the State was facing a huge revenue deficit and development initiatives have been at a standstill, he had said that despite the obvious need for immediate aid, the Centre has still not acted to extend support.