NEW DELHI: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today mounted an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "betraying" people of Andhra Pradesh on the issue of granting special category status to the state.
"Modiji a reminder: The decision 2grant Spl Category Status 2Andhra was taken by the Parl of this country in 2014.
"Today 5cr ppl of Andhra are watching BJP-TDP betray them," he tweeted on the micro-blogging site Twitter.
Gandhi's remarks came in the wake of slugfest in the Rajya Sabha over a Congress member's bill on reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh.
The 'Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill', moved by Congress member KVP Ramachandra Rao, was referred by the Upper House to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for a decision on its fate amid an uproar by Congress which led to premature adjournment of the House for the day.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who spoke up on the issue, asked the Rajya Sabha to fulfil the commitments made by him in this regard over two years ago as the House took up the bill.
It was perhaps for the first time that Singh had himself spoken on the issue over which NDA-ally TDP and its government in Andhra Pradesh has locked horns with the BJP-led government at the Centre.
TDP MPs have been agitating for the demand for a number of days, both inside and outside Parliament.
Finance Minister and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley raised objections to the Bill, saying Money Bill cannot be introduced in the Rajya Sabha.