AP likely to get more money from Centre

Hyderabad: For the second time in less than a week, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday assured Andhra Pradesh that the Centre would consider more and more financial assistance to it and fulfill all promises made to it. Mr Jaitley was forced to make a suo moto statement in Lok Sabha on Tuesday in order to pacify agitating Telugu Desam and YSR Congress MPs who continued their stir for a second day demanding that the Centre immediately declare special category status for AP as was promised by it.

Mr Jaitley informed the Lok Sabha that on Tuesday itself he had spoken to AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu over the issue and had informed him that the Centre was working on alternatives to give more assistance to the state. He appealed to the agitating MPs to withdraw their protests in RS and allow the proceedings to go on. Responding to Mr Jaitley’s intervention in the matter, Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party leader and Union minister of state Y.S. Chowdary said at a press conference in the evening that they would wait for the outcome and then plan further agitations over the issue. He said that there was no going back on continuing the party’s agitation over the issue till AP got special category status as well as special financial packages as promised by the Centre.

Earlier in the day, placard-holding TD and YSR Congress MPs had separately gathered at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament and shouted slogans, demanding special category status for AP.  During the Session, YSR Congress MPs had rushed to the podium and TD members raised slogans from their seats, disturbing the proceedings. However like Monday, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan continued with both question hour and zero hour amid the sloganeering by the AP MPs. The Speaker, later on,  advised the Andhra Pradesh MPs that she would allow a debate on the issue.