Home Minister Rajnath Singh agreed to appoint Additional Secretary A K Singh in his ministry as the nodal officer for the speedy implementation of the bill.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday assured a BJP delegation from Andhra Pradesh that he would do the needful to speed up the implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, in its entirety, and for helping the successor state of Andhra Pradesh in view of the problems being faced by the state after bifurcation.
Upon the request of Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, the Home Minister held detailed discussions with a BJP delegation led by Andhra Pradesh Unit President K HariBabu in the office of Naidu.
Naidu recounted the circumstances of the bifurcation of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, and made out a strong case for assisting the successor state of Andhra Pradesh. He said that the state was facing several problems having lost substantial revenue and its resource base to Hyderabad and the new state of Telangana.
Naidu urged Singh to ensure that the Home Ministry, being the nodal ministry for the A P Reorganisation Act, took a more pro-active role in ensuring early implementation of the Act which would benefit both the states.
He further said that early decisions and actions were required in respect of Special Category status for AP, division of assets and liabilities between the two states, division of officers, proper re-allotment of Rajya Sabha members to both the states, execution of various projects as mentioned in the Act etc.
Naidu particularly suggested that a senior officer of the Home Ministry be appointed as a Nodal Officer to coordinate with the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for resolving the various issues between them, and also with the concerned ministries of the central government, for execution of different projects in both the states.
Singh also listened to the members of the delegation who insisted that Special Category status to Andhra Pradesh needed to be accorded on priority.
Singh agreed to appoint an Additional Secretary (A K Singh) in his ministry as the nodal officer for coordinating with AP and Telangana, and with the concerned central ministries, for speedy implementation of the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act.
A team of officers led by A K Singh will be visiting Hyderabad on 20th March to hold discussions with the Chief Secretaries of both the state to resolve the pending issues.
The Home Minister also assured the delegation that he would discuss the issue of the Special Category status with Finance Minister Arun Jaitely.
The Home Minister asserted that the central government was committed to helping both the states.
Non-inclusion of Special Category status for Andhra Pradesh in the Reorganisation Act by the then UPA government, subsequent demands for similar status, and Congress leaders speaking in different voices in this regard also came in for discussion during the meeting.
The delegation pointed out to the Union Home Minister that the Congress was resorting to cheap tactics and carrying out a disinformation campaign. The delegation quoted Moily's observations as below:
"There will be a flight of capital from neighboring states like Karnataka, Kerala and Bihar. There should be a method followed while giving such incentives to one state. All of them will go and invest there and nothing wrong in it. But the question is how can you create this kind of inequality and inequity between one state and the other. It is a major issue. It is a thoughtless decision. It is not a reasonable decision."
The BJP delegation comprised of Dr. Kamineni Nivas, Manikyala Rao, G Ganga Raju, Challapalle Narasimha Reddy, Bhanu Prakash Reddy, Santha Reddy, Ramboophla Reddy, Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Parthasarathi, K Satyanarayana Raju, Ramakrishna Reddy, Ankal Reddy, Ramesh Naidu, N T Chowdary, Uma & Sunil Isaka. (INN)