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Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh (PTI photo)
“The Congress and the INDIA coalition will bring justice to Andhra Pradesh and deliver on all promises made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act,” he said
The BJP, TDP and the YSRCP have failed to deliver on the promises of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday. The Congress general secretary also alleged that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre refused to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh, going back on its commitment.
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014 split Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and the residuary Andhra Pradesh state. Since the residual state came into existence, Andhra Pradesh has been governed by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP).
“Since coming to power in May 2014, the BJP, TDP and the YSRCP have individually and collectively failed to deliver on the promises of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. Ten years later, Dr Manmohan Singh’s vision remains unfulfilled,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
Referring to Andhra Pradesh’s demand for special category status after its bifurcation, he said, “The Modi sarkar has refused to grant Andhra Pradesh its due, going back on the commitments made by Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Modi.” Ramesh also noted the Polavaram project was granted national status under the Manmohan Singh government.
“The Modi sarkar has failed to uphold its allocation of funds,” he alleged. Ramesh also claimed projects such a new railway zone in Andhra Pradesh and an agricultural university have “no location” while the Kadapa steel plant and the Kakinada petro complex are “missing”.
While the Duggirajupatnam port is “not available”, progress is “slow” on expansion projects of airports in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati, the Congress leader alleged.
The Vizag-Chennai industrial corridor is witnessing “very slow progress”, Ramesh added.
“The Congress and the INDIA coalition will bring justice to Andhra Pradesh and deliver on all promises made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act,” he said. Polling for Andhra Pradesh’s 25 Lok Sabha and 175 assembly seats will be held simultaneously on May 13.
Telangana’s 17 Lok Sabha seats will also go to the polls on the same day. The BJP is contesting the elections in Andhra Pradesh in an alliance with the TDP and Pawan Kalyan’s Janasena.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)