VIJAYAWADA: In the continuing game of one-upmanship over the perceived failure of the Centre in keeping its word on helping the State get back on its feet post-bifurcation, YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday announced that his party was ready to move a no-confidence motion against the Modi government and dared Jana Sena president and actor Pawan Kalyan to “convince his partner (TDP)” to follow suit.
His move came a day after Pawan suggested that all MPs from Andhra Pradesh could either resign or move a no-confidence motion against the BJP-led NDA government if they were sincere about securing special category status for the State — a promise made by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh when the AP Reorganisation Bill was passed in Parliament but ignored by the NDA dispensation citing the 14th Finance Commission recommendations.
Seeking to put the ruling TDP, a partner in the NDA government, on the backfoot, Jagan said his party’s fight for special status will resume in Parliament on March 5 and it will pitch for no-trust vote in the last week of the month. “I ask you one thing, Pawan Kalyan garu, you talk to your partner Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu once because we need 54 MPs to move a no-confidence motion.
We have five. The rest were bought by Naidu. We are ready or if the TDP wants to move the no-trust motion, we will lend our support,” he appealed to Pawan but in the same breath, insisted that the actor and Naidu stop talking about the special package announced by the Centre for the State in lieu of special status. Jagan has made special status his main poll plank in a bid to corner the TDP which has accepted the special package agreeing with the Centre that it was no different from special status. Addressing a public meeting at Kandukur as part of his ongoing padayatra, the YSRC chief also said his MPs would resign on April 6 if the Centre did not grant special status by then.
The TDP, which has kickstarted the ongoing confrontation with the Centre in protest against the latter’s indifference towards implementation of the special package as well as provisions in the Reorganisation Act, has already indicated that it could walk out of the NDA if there was no positive response by March 5 when the Budget Session of Parliament resumes.
When contacted, Minister for Information and Public Relations Kalava Srinivasulu dismissed Jagan’s dare, observing, “He will say such things.. there is no need to react. We are not contemplating any no-confidence motion, but will rather wait till March 5. We will exercise all options available democratically to build pressure on the Centre for getting what is rightfully ours.”
A BJP senior leader told TNIE off the record rather scornfully that if they want, the YSRC and TDP could contest together in the next election.
The idea of moving a no-confidence motion was first mooted by Undavalli Arun Kumar, former MP and member of Pawan Kalyan’s joint fact-finding committee. Pointing out that it was bizarre to find all 25 MPs from the State supporting the BJP, he opined that if they come together and move a no-confidence motion, they could even bring down the government.
His reasoning being that BJP, which won 282 seats on its own, has the problem of dissidence. Recently, at least 18 BJP MPs attended a meeting convened by veteran BJP leader Yashwant Sinha. Add to them, disillusioned allies of the BJP like the Shiv Sena and anything might be possible.