VIJAYAWADA/VISAKHAPATNAM : A day after Leader of the Opposition and YSRC chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy announced that his party MPs will resign on April 6 if the Centre fails to accord Special Category Status (SCS) to the State, TDP leaders alleged that the YSRC chief is playing a new drama. Seeking to know why the YSRC kept mum for three years after announcing resignation of their MPs, the TDP ministers said that there will be no sanctity to the YSRC MPs’ resignation as the scope for byelections is bleak.
Speaking to mediapersons at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi on Wednesday, Ministers Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy, K Atchannaidu and Nakka Ananda Babu said that unlike the YSRC, the TDP would take a decision without setting any deadline.Maintaining that the TDP never compromised on the interests of the State, the ministers said that they have some faith on the Centre even today. “In case of not getting justice from the Centre, our leader (Chandrababu Naidu), who is a senior most politician in India and known as Chanakya, will take appropriate decision at the right time,’’ said Atchannaidu. He said that no one imagined that the TDP, being an ally of the BJP, will take up such protests both in and outside Parliament.
“We have done it as we have guts,” he said and alleged that the YSRC leaders don’t have the guts to question the Centre. They are only limited to criticising the TDP and the State government, he said.
The minister recalled that the TDP stood away from the Vajpayee’s cabinet despite the then Prime Minister offering several crucial minister posts. All the TDP MPs resigned when the Bofors scam rattled the nation. Countering the allegations of the YSRC that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is afraid of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and compromising on the interests of the State, the ministers said there is no need for Naidu to fear Modi as there is no pending case against the CM.
HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao flayed Jagan, saying that the warning given by the YSRC MPs to tender resignations if the Special Category Status was not accorded to AP by April 6 is nothing, but a political gimmick. “Since 2014, the YSRC MPs have been chanting the resignation mantra, but they never did so. Even in 2016, they resorted to the same tactic ahead of the Nadyal bypoll, only to take a U-turn,” Ganta said.
He alleged that as Praja Sankalpa Yatra launched by YSRC chief Jaganmohan Reddy was receiving a lukewarm response, the party wanted to hog the limelight by such ‘cheap tactics’.
“Time and again, the YSRC has fooled the people. The resignation drama is being played out to gain political mileage for the coming general elections. Better, the YSRC reschedule the resignation day to the April Fools’ Day,” Ganta ridiculed.
Expecting positive response
Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana said that the State government is expecting a positive response by March 5 from the Centre with regard to the provisions of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. He said that the State government will chalk out a plan as per the directives of Naidu, if there is no favourable announcement by then. He came down heavily on Opposition leader Jagan. Even as speculations were rife that Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani visited Chandrababu Naidu to mediate between the State and the Union government, Narayana brushed them off. “The visit of Mukesh Ambani was scheduled much before the commencement of budget session. He had come to discuss with the CM the industrial park Reliance intends to set up here. There is nothing more to the duo’s discussion,” he added.
Naidu asks leaders to wait till March 5
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who organised a meeting with TDP leaders to chalk out a strategy to mount pressure on the Centre for achieving the commitments made to the State under the AP Reorganisation Act, is learnt to have directed the party leaders to wait and watch for getting favourable response from the Centre until March 5. Sources said Naidu hinted at taking hard decisions in case there was no change in the attitude of the Centre after the commencement of Parliament from March 5. It is learnt that the TDP will pull out its MPs from the Union Cabinet first and will withdraw from the NDA after the conclusion of the session.