Andhra Pradesh special status: President Ram Nath Kovind accepts resignations of TDP ministers Ashok Gajapathi Raju, YS Chowdary
The development comes a day after the two ministers met PM Narendra Modi and handed over their resignations in protest against refusal of the Centre to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday accepted resignations of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ministers Ashok Gajapathi Raju and YS Chowdary, an official spokesman said.
The development comes a day after the two ministers met PM Narendra Modi and handed over their resignations in protest against refusal of the Centre to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
On Wednesday, the state's ruling Telugu Desam Party pulled out of the Modi government but kept a window open for rapprochement by deciding to remain part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Earlier, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that giving special category status, as demanded by Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu, to any state apart from those in the northeast and three hill provinces was not constitutionally possible after the implementation of the 14th Finance Commission recommendations.
For special category status category states, the Centre meets 90 per cent of the funds required in a centrally sponsored scheme as against 60 per cent in case of normal category states. The remaining funds are provided by the state governments.