Congress vows to secure justice for Andhra Pradesh

Vowing to secure justice for Andhra Pradesh, the Congress on Monday, 8 April, claimed that the Modi government had "betrayed" the people of the state over the issue of special category status while chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had made "absolutely zero progress" on it.

The Opposition party said it has reiterated the promise of special category status for the state in its Lok Sabha polls manifesto.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the promise for Special Category Status (SCS) was made during the passage of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, by none other than Manmohan Singh himself, who committed to it on the floor of the Rajya Sabha in February 2014.

"As a state with Special Category Status, Andhra Pradesh would receive benefits such as special central assistance grants, better financing terms for externally aided projects, excise duty concessions, and tax breaks to help attract investment. After the loss of Hyderabad, these provisions could have helped lay the foundations for the state's continued prosperity - but the Modi Sarkar betrayed the people of the state for ten years," he said in a post on X.

The Congress party is determined to right this wrong, and help secure Andhra Pradesh’s economic future, Ramesh said.

"Each and every party has failed the people of Andhra Pradesh on this matter: When Dr. Singh committed to SCS for 5 years, then BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu had retorted, 'Why only 5 years? BJP government will give for 10 years." Mr. Naidu fully failed to follow through on this jumla in his three years as Union Minister. PM Modi too made similar promises before the 2014 election -- he has since reneged on this promise," the Congress leader said.

In 2018, the TDP left the NDA to protest the BJP’s inaction on this demand and now it’s "cravenly fallen back into the BJP’s embrace, despite the party staying silent on the matter," Ramesh said.

"Chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy began his tenure in 2019 by declaring that there is 'very little we can do' and we are 'at somebody's mercy' for securing SCS. Having admitted to his own ineffectuality at the outset, he has made absolutely zero progress on securing SCS for the state. Only the Congress can secure justice for Andhra Pradesh!" Ramesh asserted.

His remarks come days ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state.