A war of words between the Opposition and treasury benches ensued in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday over granting of “special category” status to Andhra Pradesh, as the government tried to stump the Congres
A war of words between the Opposition and treasury benches ensued in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday over granting of “special category” status to Andhra Pradesh, as the government tried to stump the Congress by insisting that there was no mention of any such promise in the AP Reorganisation Act, under whose provisions a separate Telangana was carved out of it.
Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge raised the matter in the Lower House after the Question Hour, when he claimed that the NDA government has failed to grant the “special category” status to Andhra Pradesh, even though the UPA regime had promised to do so when the legislation was framed
However, parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu interjected and claimed that the AP Reorganisation Act does not contain any term like “special category status”.
“I am a student of law. Nowhere in the Act this is written about. The bill was brought up by the UPA government. It does not contain the words of ‘special category’ status,” he said amid protests and brief walkout by the Congress.
Taking potshots at the Congress, the minister accused the Opposition party of being “silent” and “forgetting” the promise when in power while turning “violent” on the issue when out of power.
