Pawan ropes in JP to pressure Centre

Concrete plan mooted to implement promises

Hyderabad: Jana Sena founder Pawan Kalyan called on Lok Satta founder Jayaprakash Narayan here on Thursday to discuss the promises made in Parliament at the time of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and the status of their implementation.

This development came a day after the actor-turned-politician announced his intentions to create a platform for bringing together a group of organisations and individuals to fight for fulfilment of promises.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, he said given its past track record, there was hope that the BJP government would work to implement promises made to AP at the time of bifurcation. Mr. Pawan Kalyan expressed concern over the contradictory statements being made on these promises.

He said that the meeting with Mr. Narayan marked the beginning of a process to forge a platform to mount pressure on the Centre. “It can be a joint action committee, think tank or a strategic group. It will evolve ways and means to represent the aspirations of the people,” he said.

Asked why there was delay in finalising the course of action for ensuring fulfilment of promises made more than three years ago, he said it was a sensitive issue related to the interests of the people.
“We have initiated the process for bringing together all the stakeholders and we will evolve steps to take the struggle forward,” he said.

Mr. Narayan said that while AP was assured a package on the lines of Bundelkhand at the time of bifurcation. Assessments had projected that the Centre would provide about ₹10,000 crore in assistance to the State. “The promises on tax exemptions too were not implemented, but given to other States with a changed terminology called additional budgetary support,” he said, alleging that the government was going by the technicalities, which in turn denied benefits assured to the State.

Mr. Pawan Kalyan said he would continue meeting like-minded people in the coming days for evolving a concrete plan and put pressure on the Centre.

Courtesy: The Hindu