Congress seeks info on AP revenue deficit
n a letter, the Leader of Opposition sought to remind the Union Finance Minister of the Centre’s commitment to fill the revenue gap in the first year of bifurcation. The commitment was made by the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on February 20, 2014, he said and added that Jaitley was present in the Rajya Sabha as Leader of Opposition.
Vijayawada: Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council C Ramachandraiah, on Tuesday, asked Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to give clarity on the revenue deficit in AP in the first year post-bifurcation.
In a letter, the Leader of Opposition sought to remind the Union Finance Minister of the Centre’s commitment to fill the revenue gap in the first year of bifurcation. The commitment was made by the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on February 20, 2014, he said and added that Jaitley was present in the Rajya Sabha as Leader of Opposition.
He said it was the constitutional obligation on the part of the Centre to fulfil the promise and fill the revenue gap in AP in the first year of bifurcation.However, he regretted that the Central government had allocated Rs 3,479.50 crore to the State to fill the revenue deficit in the first budget of the NDA government, while AP government claimed the revenue deficit of Rs 16,079 crore.
The deficit of Rs 16,079 crore was also mentioned by the Andhra Pradesh Governor in his address to the members of Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. If the revenue deficit of the State in the first year as claimed by AP government was to be believed, the Central government has to give that much money, he said and wanted to know why the NDA government was not helping the State.
He wanted a clear statement by the Central government or the ruling BJP leadership on the revenue deficit of the State and the Central government’s constitutional obligation to fulfill the commitment.Ramachandraiah further recalled that some of the BJP leaders were discounting the claims of the State government on the revenue deficit.
He said that a section of the BJP leaders from Andhra Pradesh were stating that the claims of the State government included its commitments of loan waiver and other welfare programmes.The Congress leader requested the Union Finance Minister and the Central leadership of the BJP to give clarity on the issue as people of the State were being misled on the issue.
