VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed Telugu Desam MPs to expose the ‘double standards’ of the Centre in Parliament.
Taking exception to the affidavits filed by the Centre in the Supreme Court that it could not accord Special Category Status (SCS) to AP, create Visakhapatnam Railway Zone and implement other provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, the Chief Minister sought to know how can the BJP-led NDA government renege on the promises made to the State at the time of bifurcation.
Addressing the TDP MPs through a teleconference from his residence in Undavalli near here on Monday, Naidu instructed them to confront the Centre by raising the issues like new railway zone, Kadapa steel plant, Visakhapatnam - Chennai Industrial Corridor, Kakinada Petrochemical Complex, funds for capital Amaravati and aid for the development of backward districts in the State. Reiterating that 5 crore people of the State kept hopes on Parliament and TDP MPs, he wanted them to make use of every opportunity in the
House and question the Centre on the assurances given by the then PM Manmohan Singh and the issues mentioned in the AP Reorganisation Act.
Asserting that the fight against the Centre would continue in and outside Parliament, he said the gross injustice done to the State by the Centre should be exposed on all platforms across the nation. Stating that his government sent a resolution to the Centre after taking a decision to extend 5 per cent BC reservation to Kapus in education and employment, he said the Centre kept the issue pending for the past nine months and wanted the MPs to pressurise the BJP government to include BC quota for Kapus in Schedule IX. Accusing YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy of sailing with the BJP to get rid of cases filed against him, Naidu said that the Opposition Leader was cheating Kapus on the BC reservations issue.