TDP sulks as ally BJP-led Centre sits on granting special status to AP

On 25 July, the Upper House of Parliament witnessed chaos over the demand for Special status for Andhra Pradesh. The chaos has had a cascading effect on ties between the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra and its ally, the BJP. Following the fruitless debate in the Rajya Sabha, the obviously unhappy TDP supremo and AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu voiced his concern over the future of the BJP-TDP alliance. “They (BJP) are passing the buck to Congress,” Naidu is alleged to have said, while addressing a meeting of the core committee of the party along with TDP MPs at Vijaywada on Sunday. “It is a political decision that the BJP has to take and display more statesmanship and political pragmatism than the Congress who played around to gain electoral gains in 2014 polls,” he said. TDP MPs, whose adjournment motion on AP’s special status rocked the Lok Sabha on Monday were, however, in agreement when Chandrababu rejected options for withdrawal from the NDA government fearing it could be counter-productive. ‘Wait and watch’ was his advice to partymen who were keen to stage bandhs and dharnas. “It is not fair on Arun Jaitley’s part to now plead that the Centre’s hands were tied. It was the BJP which campaigned for special status in the Upper House,” Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju is said to have told party leaders at the meet. [caption id=“attachment_2932432” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] TDP members protest demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh at Parliament House on Tuesday. Photo: PTI[/caption] Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had told the Rajya Sabha that the demand for special status was under consideration. “I am assuring MPs of Andhra Pradesh that the government is committed to whatever has been assured. We are with the people of Andhra Pradesh. Give us some time,” he said, continuing what is seen as a non-committal stance of the Centre towards a poll promise. The NDA has compounded the problem for Chandrababu Naidu. In statements made by Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu and Finance Minister Jaitley in Rajya Sabha, he said that while the 13th Finance Commission gave only Rs 69,000 crores to AP, the 14th Finance Commission had given Rs 2,09,340 crores. TDP leaders hotly argue that there is no link between the recommendations of finance commissions. “Both Congress and the TDP are a cause of our misery. We are the victims,” said TDP leader and Minister Ganta Srinivas Rao. “The funds given by Centre are not adequate for even the compound walls of institutions,” he said replying to Venkaiah Naidu’s claim that Rs 2,050 crores were given to AP. Naidu too is in no mood to soft pedal on its ally. “The BJP alliance has cost us more than 17 assembly and 4 Parliament seats in the 2014 elections in Telangana and AP,” Naidu reportedly said at the meeting. “One section of voters (Dalits and minorities) have distanced themselves from the TDP. But in the larger interests of the state, I continued the tie-up. Though TDP wanted to improve its headcount in Rajya Sabha, I gave the seat to Nirmala Seetharaman in 2014, and Suresh Prabhu in 2016 hoping to get more projects for AP,” he stated. Opposition and ruling party unite Special status is one issue over which all the warring parties of the southern states come together. Left parties, the Congress and the YSR Congress observed a one-day bandh in 13 districts of AP on Monday and Tuesday. They torched buses, staged dharnas and also blocked roads on the highways. TDP MPs took their battle to the Lok Sabha for the second day on Tuesday. Dharnas and protests have marked the Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra region since Monday wherein markets and schools stood shut and buses were off the roads. Though TDP is officially not participating in the bandh and protests, cadres are supporting the protest. “We don’t want the people to feel that we are keeping quiet for the sake of the BJP,” said senior TDP MLC Jupudi Prabhakar Rao. “For two years we begged and cajoled Modi and BJP to do justice for us. But they have turned a blind eye. TDP cadres will support the bandh as even Chandrababu is ready for a face-off with the Centre,” he said. Looming unrest Chandrababu Naidu is unhappy over the Centre’s dilly-dallying in handing special status to AP. His advisers within AP government contend that the lack of special status would upset the apple cart in terms of procuring funds to build the new capital, Amaravati. Special status is guaranteed by the Constitution of India through an Act of Parliament, as in the case of Jammu and Kashmir. However the special category status is granted by the National Development Council, an administrative body of the government, as in the case of north-eastern states and Uttarakhand. Now the NDC is substituted by the Niti Aayog. While special status empowers economic, financial legislative and political rights, the special category status only deals with economic, administrative and financial aspects. A bureaucrat, on condition of anonymity, said, “Chandrababu has made huge commitments to investors from Singapore, China, Japan, UK and even Russia. If he fails to get special status by hook or crook, his grand plans for waterways, airports, bullet trains, highways, data warehouses and agricultural marketing will go topsy-turvy,” he explained. It is common knowledge in administrative circles that the special category status, promised to the state by the previous UPA government, may not come easy. The Centre told the Lok Sabha in the last winter session that neither Andhra Pradesh nor Telangana meet the criteria for that status. [caption id=“attachment_2578202” align=“alignright” width=“380”] Chandrababu Naidu is unhappy over the Centre’s delay in awarding special status to AP. Photo: IBNLive[/caption] After the Planning Commission was dismantled and substituted with Niti Aayog, both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are forced to wait for the new body to set a new formula to fulfill the mandatory norms under the AP Reorganisation Act of 2014. Telangana and several other small states such as Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Haryana, have staked claim for special status. Special status would exempt them from several economic, fiscal and regulatory prerequisites and labour and fiscal restrictions. Secondly, such a status would make the Centre the custodian of all development activities in these states, without giving the party in power at the Centre no political control on ground. This is why the BJP is treading carefully. Thanks to omission of the previous UPA government in not putting the special status proposal on paper, the BJP is looking to milk the TDP and Chandrababu Naidu for all that the ally is worth. Despite Union Minister and BJP strongman of the south M Venkaiah Naidu oozing confidence over fulfilling all assurances made in Parliament, the power corridors of Delhi spell a different story. TDP leader and Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y Sujana Chowdary has indicated that with or without the special status, the NDA government is offering an alternative package with incentives like tax concessions to attract investors. Tax concessions to the state would mean there would be no grants in aid but only loan facilitation by the Centre. The Modi government is keen to make Chandrababu Naidu’s grandiose plans as part of NDA’s ‘Make In India’ campaign, thereby claiming part of the credit. “We want AP to grow together with India and become the pilot ground for all global schemes like mega city, smart city, agriculture and IT, instead of its own growth engines,” said a senior BJP leader in AP. Both AP and national BJP troubleshooters are unhappy with the TDP’s attack on the Centre. They say that the debate has been renewed with the Private Member’s Bill of a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha KVP Ramachandra Rao. “It is a Congress trap to break the BJP-TDP alliance for which the TDP has fallen,” said P Mankyala Rao, AP Endowment Minister and a BJP legislator. Countering the claims in Parliament on central funding for capital cities of smaller states, Rao said that hardly Rs 195 crores was given by UPA government for building Naya Raipur in Chhattisgarh. “But we have given almost Rs 2,050 crores for Amaravati,” he said, adding that the Centre has to care for every state and not just AP. “Why is the Congress silent now on queries as to non-inclusion of special status in the AP Reorganisation Act of 2014?” he questioned. What is clear is that the issue is nowhere near over for now. As allies TDP and the BJP bristle at each other, it is anybody’s guess as to who will blink first.