VIJAYAWADA: The flip-flop stand of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu over the Special Category Status (SCS) has opened up the demeaning status of the Andhra Pradesh government before the 15th Finance Commission and has ex-posed the shallowness of TD governance, the YSR Congress has said.
Speaking to reporters here on Friday, party MLA and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, Buggana Rajendernath Reddy said, “Chandrababu Naidu government had submitted a memorandum to the 15th Finance Commission unilaterally, without taking opposition parties into consideration. This is highly unpardonable and the state government harping on SCS is more quixotic than ever. It was Chandrababu Naidu who had always advocated for Special Package and discouraged SCS and even went to the extent of passing resolutions in the st-ate Assembly and Council th-anking the Union finance minister for the Special Package which was purportedly in lieu of SCS.”
He further stated, “When our leader, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy resolutely opposed the move and had given a bandh call and held protests in various forms at multiple venues stating that SCS is our right and it cannot be traded for Special Package, there was a barrage of criticism.”
Elaborating further, Mr. Reddy said, “Our leader had also said that the SCS is not within the purview of the Finance Commission and only an executive order, a cabinet decision, can lead to the SCS, but the TD leadership did not agree and made numerous allegations. Now the ruling party, without taking any opposition party into confidence has given a memorandum on its own seeking SCS. This is ironic. Our party leaders too had met the members of the 15th Finance Commission and given a representation seeking adequate and additional funds for the fledgling state.”
Alleging that Mr. Naidu had been painting a rosy picture of the State economy by telling inflated growth figures, Mr. Reddy said that this was adversely affecting the State. The agriculture and industrial data which the CM had been giving did not come from a reliable source and were far from the truth, he said.
