Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'BJP/NDA govt. refuses to be pressurized by AP’s CM and TDP Boss' that was published in Newsband

BJP/NDA govt. refuses to be pressurized by AP’s CM and TDP Boss

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ruled out the possibility of grant of Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh. Hence Andhra Pradesh's Telugu Desam party pulled out its ministers from being part of the NDA cabinet. TDP Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Minister of State Y.S. Chowdary will resign from the government, TDP President and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu announced.

TDP has been agitating both inside and outside Parliament since the union budget was announced on February 1, claiming that none of the State’s demands were met. Jaitley said that the Centre was “committed” to giving financial assistance to Andhra government, but said they had been modifying their demands. The AP government, Mr. Jaitley said, initially wanted the assistance to be routed as loans through external agencies like World Bank, Asian Development Bank and so on. Under this, the Union government would have paid 90% of the loans. This year [in] January they modified the request; instead of externally aided projects, they asked us to provide it through NABARD loan, Jaitley said,

For over a year, the two allies have shared an uneasy equation. By quitting the central cabinet the distance between Modi and TDP will be increasing with loss of mutual faith and once out of power nothing comes out. One should fight within power by convincing the need of more funds.

Special status for A.P is not justified at the cost of other states. There were so many States were bifurcated in the last decade like Jharkhand, Chatishgarg etc. Nobody demanded such status. Chandra Babau Naidu s pressure tactics will not always work. One can only distribute what one has. One cannot give what one does not have. When you don't have enough to give what you have is "Just Words".

N Chandra Babu Naidu, TDP boss, should not sit on the fence. Nothing much will be achieved if he asks his nominees in the Union cabinet to resign even as he delays his decision as to whether TDP would continue as an alliance partner in NDA. BJP/NDA govt. has done well not to give in to demands of chief minister of Andhra Pradesh & TDP boss with regard to accord of special status to the Andhra Pradesh. Ideally, decision as regards accord of a special status to any State should be based on sound economic reasons. It is obvious that Chandra Babu Naidu chief minister of Andhra Pradesh thinks otherwise. He is free to quit NDA. Let us see what happens in 2019. Chandra Babu Naidu can even join UPA and be a friend of Rahul Gandhi who has publicly promised to accord special status to Andhra Pradesh if Congress is voted to power in 2019 Lok Sabha election.

It’s simply just a part of the upcoming elections i.e. 2019. Maybe it’s a plan for all the parties to get together against the BJP, why AP wants to be a special state? As we saw recently in UP, SP and BSP came together and there are also high chances that even Congress will come with them.

Andhra has not only a rich coastline but industries too. What about Bihar, West Bengal or Rajasthan. Every state will start demanding the same treatment and then there will be anarchy. Really, this kind of politics is baffling.

Anyway, Kudos to PM and BJP who withstood the pressure and did true justice while ignoring political fallout.