HYDERABAD: At a time when opposition parties in AP are planning massive protests to corner the ruling TDP-BJP alliance over the Centre’s reluctance to grant special status to the State, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday made it clear that the Modi government will compensate the State, which had lost Hyderabad to Telangana, in one form or the other.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, he said the Centre could not accord special status to AP because of “technical” problems. Recalling that the 14th Finance Commission, in its report, did not recommend special status to AP, he said, “Though an assurance was given in the past, the government could not take it up as there was no mention of the issue in the 14th Finance Commission report.”
Even though he almost ruled out the possibility of granting special status to the reorganised State, Jaitley asserted that the Union government was trying to find ways and means of solving this issue. “Since AP has lost Hyderabad city to Telangana, sufficient allocations will be made. The Centre is proposing more funds than what the state would get by way of special status,” he claimed.
Stating that the Centre has already fulfilled some assurances made in the Reorganisation Act, he said the government was in the process of fulfilling the remaining. Jaitley’s comments come at a time when the YSRC, Congress and the Left announced protests to expose the alleged “inability” of the TDP government in extracting special status.