Andhra Pradesh Congress (APCC) president Y.S. Sharmila is leading a party delegation from the State to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the Home Minister, and draw their attention to the unfulfilled promises made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
Ahead of the Union Budget scheduled to be tabled by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2024, Ms. Sharmila intends to draw the Centre’s attention to the “injustice meted out to Andhra Pradesh.”
Party senior leaders, including former MP K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, special invitee to the Congress Working Committee Gidugu Rudra Raju, former Union Minister Pallam Raju, CWC member N. Raghuveera Reddy, APCC media spokesperson N. Thulasi Reddy, and senior party leader J.D. Seelam will accompany her.
On January 30 (Tuesday), the APCC president wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and urged him to initiate immediate measures to fulfill the promises outlined in the Reorganisation Act.
Ms. Sharmila said that at the time of bifurcation of the State in 2014, the Central Government had recognised the need to ensure a balanced approach for development of the residual Andhra Pradesh and made commitments in the Act that aimed at a faster recovery of the State from the huge financial losses it incurred.
Pointing to the fact that even after a lapse of 10 years, none of the promises had been fulfilled, Ms. Sharmila said people of Andhra Pradesh feel cheated by the Centre’s apathy.
“Today, the State stands at the crossroads of confusion, chaos and hopelessness,” she said, adding that failure to fulfill these assurances would put a question mark on the honesty of the Central government.
The Congress president listed some of the promises, and urged the Centre to ensure justice to the State by implementing the same.
Promises made
The Special Category Status (SCS), Ms. Sharmila recalled, was announced by the then Congress Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Rajya Sabha on February 20, 2014, and the Union Cabinet passed a resolution on March 2, 2014.
“The Union Government had declared Polavaram as a national irrigation project and said that the execution of the project would be done by the Centre,” she said, adding that a major port at Dugarajapatnam, a steel plant in Kadapa district, a separate railway zone in Visakhapatnam, special economic packages for Rayalaseema and North Andhra districts on the lines of Kalahandi-Balangir, Bundelkhand, development of Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor and building a new capital city were the other promises.
She also appealed to the Centre to reconsider its decision to privatise the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, as the project was achieved through a prolonged struggle that saw many people laying down their lives for the cause.
Ms. Sharmila said on behalf of the 5.5 crore people of Andhra Pradesh, she was putting forth her appeal that these points be included in the President’s speech to be delivered on the first day of the Parliament Budget session on January 31, 2024.
