The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday rebuffed the allegation levelled by the estranged ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) against the Centre and called it bogus.
Addressing the press here, BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said, "Schedule 13 of Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act has feature mentioning setting up of 11 national-level educational institutions, and out of 11, nine were set up in the first three years. TDP's charge that we're quitting NDA as promises have not been fulfilled is bogus."
Contradicting Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's statement that the state was not accorded the same special benefits as the North Eastern states, Rao said, Andhra is the only state besides eight northeastern and hilly states, which is getting revenue deficit grant for all five years under the 14th Finance Commission. Does that not show Finance Commission has taken into account financial constraints and resource needs of new state?"
On March 16, the TDP pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition at the Centre, citing failure of the latter to fulfill its promise of granting Special Category status to Andhra Pradesh and granting funds to rebuild the state, post bifurcation.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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