It’s the responsibility of PM to grant special status to AP, says Rahul Gandhi

ANANTAPUR: AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday came down heavily on the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for denying the special category status to the bifurcated Andhra Pradesh.

“For the first time in history of independent India, promise made by the central government on granting special status is not being fulfilled. It is the responsibility of the Prime Minister to grant special state status to Andhra Pradesh,” Rahul Gandhi told a public meeting at Bandlapalli village of Narpala mandal in Anantapur district. Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh visited the village to mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme ( MGNRES).

The APCC organised a public meeting at Bandlapalli village, where Manmohan Singh, who was the then prime minister, and Congress president Sonia Gandhi had launched the MGNRES on February 2, 2006.

Manmohan Singh said the BJP is not interested in granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh, adding that he as the then prime minister had assured the people of AP that the central government will grant special category status to the bifurcated state. “The BJP government has refused to honour the solemn commitment I had made as the prime minister,” he said.

Referring to the MGNRE Act promulgated by the Congress-led government 10 years ago, Rahul Gandhi said the whole country had benefited as the condition in villages had improved through NREGA. “Even Arun Jaitleyji in a closed room appreciated MNREGA programme. To which I said why doesn't he say this in open? He ( Arun Jaitley) smiled and didn't reply,” the Congress leader pointed out.

Manmohan Singh regretted that despite the enormous potential of MGNREGA as a social security programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not like it. “Modi has called MGNREGA as an epitome of Congress failure, a living proof of 60 years of Congress misrule. The Modi government seeks to kill the soul and spirit of MGNREGA by withholding payments to states. In 2014-15 alone, the government of India did not make payment of Rs 6,000 crore to states for already executed MGNREGA works.

He called upon the people to mobilise their sources in support of the effectiveness of MGNREGA to convince the Modi government to desist from the negative path of eroding the effectiveness of the programme as an instrument of people-centered development.

Earlier, Rahul interacted with wage workers, NGOs and village sarpanches. He also partook lunch with the local workers. The police arrested ABVP activists who attempted to stop Rahul Gandhi and disrupted the public meeting.