Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressed a press conference in Delhi on Wednesday. He spoke on the issue of granting special state status to Andhra Pradesh. This comes after there have been several protests demanding special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

Arun Jaitley clarified government’s stand on granting special category status and said it is provided to states which do not have adequate resources.

“What is the implication of special status? The special status used to be originally granted to states in the North-East because they have their own resources that were inadequate,” said Jaitley.

The union minister explained the concept of centre-state financial contribution in the development of the state saying that the central government contributes 60% while state government contributes 40%. If a state is granted special category status, the ratio changes to 90-10 for centre and state respectively.

Jaitley said that the central government is willing to satisfy every condition put forward by Andhra Pradesh. It has been granted a special package instead of the formal special status. He admitted that AP suffered lack of resources post bifurcation.

“We are willing to satisfy every condition. The only variation is that after Finance Commission report instead of formally calling it a special category state, we are calling it a special package, which gives same monetary benefits that a special category state gives you,” said Jaitley.

Earlier in the day, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu had spoken about the issue in his address at the state assembly. He slammed BJP for not responding to the need of their alliance partner referring to Telugu Desam Party, which is a part of NDA alliance at centre.