Andhra CM missive to all parties

Amaravati: The TDP has decided to increase pressure on its partner BJP at national level by writing letters to all political parties from March 5, as part of its agitation to broadcast the injustice done to Andhra Pradesh.

TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu will send the letters to all political parties in the country, in which he will explain how the BJP had hurt AP’s interests despite TDP being its ally.

The party has taken this crucial decision at its Parliamentary Party meeting held at Chandrababu Naidu’s residence at Undavalli here on Friday. Naidu will also send the letters to all the Chief Ministers, party presidents, Floor leaders in Parliament and other key leaders.

Meanwhile, the TDP MPs will deliver them to all the Members of Parliament in both the Houses on March 5, explaining how the state had been taken for a ride.

In this letter, the TDP president will give a blow-by-blow account beginning from the debate on AP Reorganisation Bill in February in 2014. TDP Lok Sabha members Galla Jayadev, Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu and others explained that the Chandrababu Naidu has asked them to increase the heat on the BJP by delivering the letters to all the MPs in Parliament.

Speaking to media persons here after the meeting, Jayadev said that in the letter, Chandrababu Naidu will focus on the nineteen demands pertaining to AP Reorganisation Act, promise made by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promising Special Category Status, package offered by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in lieu of special status in 2016 and finally glossing over all the promises, including railway zone at Visakhapatnam which had hurt the state at a time when it needed hand-holding.

The MPs explained that they will request all the political parties to help the state in its fight with the Centre to overcome the bifurcation problems. He observed that, since all the parties and MPs were party to passing the AP Reorganisation Bill in Parliament, they are now morally bound by them to go to the rescue of the state.

“We will wait till the Finance Bill is tabled for debate, where we will come to know if the central government wants to allocate any funds to the state. If they do not allocate when amendments are taken up, then we will turn the heat on the Centre,” Jayadev said.

He said that the final chance for allocating funds to the state will be when the budget bill is presented in Parliament for passing. Hence the party has taken the stand to give final chance to the BJP government. Most probably, the finance bill would be presented in the first week itself, he said.

As per the TDP strategy of increasing pressure step by step, the TDP MPs staged protests in Parliament in February and this will be continued in the ongoing Budget Session. BJP president Amit Shah had interacted with TDP MP K Rammohan Naidu and other party leaders in New Delhi. But, Amit Shah did not respond positively to any of the demands of the TDP, Jayadev said.

The TDP MPs pointed out that Chandrababu Naidu had never said he did not want Special Category Status but was compelled to accept the proposal of Special Package.

The Central government had stated that they would not give Special Category Status to any state in the country at that time. But, they have been continuing the Special Category Status to some states. In addition to that, the BJP government did not allocate even a single rupee to Andhra Pradesh under the Special Package announced by Arun Jaitley, the MPs explained.