Jagan seeks special status, Modi’s push

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 26

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister-designate YS Jaganmohan  Reddy today sought urgent assistance from the Centre, stating  that the state was facing a massive debt incurred by the outgoing TDP government. 

  Arriving in the Capital for the first time after a landslide win in the Assembly polls, he invited PM Narendra Modi to his swearing-in at Vijayawada on May 30.

At a press conference later, he said the PM gave a patient hearing on the financial situation in the state. Jagan charged his predecessor Chandrababu Naidu with running up a huge debt of Rs 2,58,000 crore. The state, he said, was paying Rs 20,000 crore every year as interest  and that his government would publish a ‘white paper’ after carrying out a review of each department.

The CM-designate said his government would persist with the “Special Category” status demand, an issue on which the TDP broke away from the NDA. He said the status was a solemn promise made in Parliament and rejected the BJP argument that the Finance Commission had done away with such categorisation. He said both the Chairman, YV Reddy, and a member, Abhijit Sen, had clarified that they hadn’t recommended “not granting” such a status to Andhra Pradesh.

On the political plane, he said the YSR Congress would have preferred the BJP not securing a clear majority as it could have brought pressure for grant of “Special Category” in exchange of support at the Centre. 

As for cases against him, he claimed these were foisted by the Congress after he left the party, which were later pursued by the TDP.