No Special Status to any state – Center

The Central government on Friday clarified that there is no provision to accord Special Category status to any state going forward. Union Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation Rao Inderjit Singh had clarified this in response to repeated demands in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour.

However the minister confirmed that there will be special packages to the required states instead. This will shatter the hopes of the truncated Andhra Pradesh and the backward Bihar, the states that are putting forth this request.

This comes at the time when the opposition YSR Congress and Left parties in Andhra Pradesh are gearing up for agitations for the Special Status. TDP MPs are protesting in the house over this but of no use.