YSR Congress MPs threaten to resign if Andhra Pradesh is not granted special category status
Party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy said Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had traded the special status for securing a ‘special economic package’.
YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy (pictured above) on Tuesday said the party’s Lok Sabha members would resign in April if the Centre did not grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh, PTI reported. Reddy said his party MPs will fight in Parliament for a special status to the state when the Budget Session resumes on March 5.
The YSR Congress has eight MPs in the Lok Sabha, however, two of its members had joined the Telugu Desam Party. Another MP has chosen to remain neutral, PTI reported. The party has one MP in Rajya Sabha.
The United Progressive Alliance government had promised the special category status to the state while passing the AP Reorganisation Act in February 2014 to bifurcate the state into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Reddy alleged that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had traded the state’s special status for securing a “special economic package”. “The state was divided on the promise of granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh,” Reddy said at an event in Nellore district. “The state has been left with many problems [on account of bifurcation]. But...Chandrababu Naidu has sold away the special status.”
The party workers will protest against the special financial package at all collector offices in Andhra Pradesh and at the chief minister’s office in Vijayawada, Reddy said. On March 5, when Parliament resumes, the YSR Congress leaders will lead a march from Ekta Sthal in New Delhi to protest outside Parliament House, the Hindustan Times reported.