HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam Party, TDP, has decided to pull out its two ministers from the government over the Centre's refusal to give Andhra Pradesh central funding under a "special status", sources have told. The decision was taken at a meeting with party lawmakers by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu late Wednesday evening, hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was seen to suggest that it would be difficult for the government to give Andhra "special status".
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley explained on Wednesday evening that Andhra Pradesh has not been given "special category status" because that scheme has been scrapped. "After the 14th Finance Commission, there is no special category scheme, though some states like the northeast and hill states get 90% funding from the Centre...We decided that Andhra should be compensated after bifurcation for the amount a special status state gets and we have provided for those funds. We stand by that," he said.
"Political issue cannot increase the funds... Sentiment does not increase the quantum of funds... We have to look at the country as a whole," Jaitley added.
Addressing the state assembly on Wednesday, Chandrababu Naidu made an emotional appeal. "Why won't you give us special status, it is our right, respect people's feeling," he said, adding that the "onus is on the Centre to clarify its position. We are not angry, we are asking for our rights." He said he had visited Delhi 29 times over the demand.
The TDP has been deeply upset since Jaitley presented the Union Budget last month, complaining that it neglected Andhra Pradesh. The party had pulled back from the brink of a break-up but warned that the Centre must make a big announcement for Andhra Pradesh before the ongoing Budget session ends.
In another development that doesn't bode well for the BJP's southern push, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao plans to launch a "federal front" - a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative at the national level - on the Telangana Rashtra Samiti's foundation day on April 27.
The TRS has claimed that several leaders, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, have extended support to Rao's proposal.