Congress walks out on special status to Andhra Pradesh

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, A P Jithender Reddy of the TRS demanded a separate High Court for Telangana.  He said, “We want Home Minister to intervene in this issue. We want to know why the government is delaying the bifurcation of High Court.” Congress Leader in the House Mallikarjun Kharge, however, raised the issue of special status to Andhra Pradesh. 

Responding to their concerns, Naidu said the Bill brought by the UPA government to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh did not contain the special category status for the state. He attacked the Congress for saying the BJPled NDA was not fulfilling the promise.  “We are going out of way to help Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. ‘’Do not accuse us that we are not fulfiling the promise. 

A majority of the promises have been fulfilled by our government,’’ he added. Intervening, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Reddy has raised the matter of a separate high court for Telangana. 

‘’Our government is in agreement that High Court must be bifurcated and for this Law Ministry is making efforts.’’ However, Congress members continued their protest.  Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress said, “Prime Minister had assured the House for a special status to Andhra Pradesh.”

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has assured Rajya Sabha that the Centre will fullfil all commitments made towards Andhra Pradesh in ‘letter and spirit’, following protests by some Congress members.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Leader of the Opposition and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said two years ago when the state of Telangana was carved out of Andhra  Pradesh, the biggest issue among the two was of capital Hyderabad. Hyderabad went to Telangana, leading to a revenue loss to Andhra Pradesh, he said, adding then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had on the floor of Rajya Sabha on February 20, 2014 announced measures to mitigate the hardship of Andhra Pradesh including formation of new capital. 

When Deputy Chairperson’s repeated pleas to the agitating members fell on deaf ear, he said, “This is a House not a market place. This is indiscipline. Members should not behave like this and return to their seats.” He said the government had already given assurance on the Andhra issue and the members should go back to their seats. “The whole country is watching you and you should not behave in this manner,” the visibly agitated Prof Kurien said. He even asked Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad to ask his members to return to their seats.