AP to drag Centre to court over bifurcation promises

The Andhra Pradesh state cabinet that met at Amaravati on Friday has decided to take legal recourse over the non-fulfilment of assurances given to the state at the time of bifurcation way back in 2014.

The government also decided to file counter to the affidavit filed by the Union government on the issue of granting special category (SCS) to the state.

The Centre filed the affidavit on Wednesday, ruling out the granting of SCS to the state, as the state had been given a special package in lieu of the promised SCS.

This is the second such rude shock to the state as earlier the Union steel ministry, in an affidavit at Supreme Court, has said that the Bifurcation Act has only asked the incumbent government to look at the feasibility of setting up a steel factory in Kadapa and the task force has given a negative report, following which large-scale agitations erupted in Kadapa.

TDP MP CM Ramesh sat on a hunger strike for 10 days.

The cabinet of ministers, headed by Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, decided to move court with each department explaining the promises made in the 2014 Bifurcation Act and by the Narendra Modi's government and the present status of each one of the assurances given to the residual state.

Prominent among them were the special railway zone to Visakhapatnam, Polavaram project, construction of Amaravati, steel plant in the backward region of Kadapa, Duggarajapatnam Port and Amaravati-Anantapur express highway.

The state government has said that the Centre has failed in fulfilling all the major promises made to the state, including fulfilling the estimated revenue deficit of over 22,113 cr.

"However, the final shape of the proposed legal remedy will be known only after the issue is discussed with legal luminaries," a minister said.

The Centre, however, in its recent affidavit has washed its hand off Andhra Pradesh that almost all the promises made in the act have been fulfilled and there is nothing much left to do.

The ruling TDP is arguing that the trouble started only after the party has severed ties with the BJP at the national and state level. The party says the Union minister's and the prime minister are not giving audience to any ministers from Andhra Pradesh.