VIJAYAWADA: Congress MP KVP Ramachandra Rao moved a private member resolution in the Rajya Sabha seeking debate on special category status (SCS) and other provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. He said it will come up for debate on Friday evening.
Speaking to mediapersons in Delhi on Thursday, he asserted that the fight would continue till SCS was achieved and expressed the hope that all political parties would give their support to his private resolution.
“As a citizen of Andhra Pradesh and leader of the Congress and partner of UPA, I strongly believe that we will be able to secure the coveted SCS,” he said.
“As far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned, the special category status is going to be the agenda and all political parties except the BJP have announced their support to the State in this regard,” he said.
KVP said apart from the assurance given by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament while passing the AP State Bifurcation Bill, that special category status would be granted to Andhra Pradesh, Sonia Gandhi, in her capacity as the AICC chairperson, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 2, 2014 urging him to keep the promise.
He further said that Sonia Gandhi again on February 19, 2015 shot off another letter to Modi reminding him of the need to accord SCS to the State. But, the BJP leaders were using the media to spread lies that the 14th Finance Commission recommended against granting SCS to AP. However, the Finance Commission officials rejected their claim, KVP said.