VIJAYAWADA: Congress Rajya Sabha member KVP Ramachandra Rao on Tuesday moved a motion in the upper house seeking Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh.
After moving the motion, Ramachandra Rao told mediapersons that he would continue to fight for SCS since the benefits that would accrue under it were quite exclusive and were no match to what the special package offered to the State.
He found fault with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely for saying that the 14th Finance Commission had shelved Special Category Status and maintained that the chairman and members of the the commission had said they never made any such observation in their report.
Ramachandra Rao, who has been doggedly pursuing SCS for AP, said that it was not proper for the Centre to say that the special package that was offered to the State was equal in all respects to the SCS.
Special Status demand took centre stage only after Ramachandra Rao moved a private member's bill in the Rajya Sabha at a time when everyone was forgetting about it which was promised by the BJP at the time of the bifurcation of the State. After KVP moved the bill, the TDP began increasing pressure on the Centre at least for Special Status which landed in Naidu's lap only in September last year.
But KVP, not satisfied with that, moved one more petition in Rajya Sabha on March 11, seeking constitutional amendment guaranteeing promises made in Parliament at the time of bifurcation of the State.