Visakhapatnam: In a surprise development former minister Konathala Ramakrishna who has been inactive in politics since the last general polls wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding special status to AP along with tax incentives and also special financial package of Rs 15,000 crore for north Andhra development.
In the letter, Mr Ramakrishna said that the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee, which went into the issue of bifurcation of integrated Andhra Pradesh, explicitly said in its report to the Centre on December 30, 2010 that Uttarandhra and Rayalaseema are the backward regions of the state. This is the most recent report detailing backwardness in this part of AP.
There are several other reports over the years, which have stressed on the same facts. “Keeping all these facts in mind, the AP Reorganization Act listed Uttarandhra and Rayalaseema as backward regions and listed them for special Financial Packages from the Centre. The Srikrishna Committ-ee's report and other reports have emphasised that special financial package is the only way out for the uplift of these two regions,” he said.
The former minister also said on Feb. 20, 2014 when the AP Reorganisation Bill was being passed in Rajya Sabha, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh gave commitments on behalf of the Government of India. These include special status to AP to attract investment, tax incentives, special financial package for backward regions, etc.
