VISAKHAPATNAM/VIJAYAWADA: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has said Special Category Status will be accorded to Andhra Pradesh if her party alliance comes to power at the Centre.
Addressing media in Visakhapatnam and a public meeting in Vijayawada on Wednesday, Mayawati said both the Congress and BJP failed to honour the bifurcation promise of providing SCS to AP.
“The united State of AP did not witness balanced development during the Congress rule, which led to the people’s movement for separate Telangana and formation of a new State,” she said.
Referring to AP elections, Mayawati expressed confidence that the Jana Sena, BSP and Left parties combine would secure majority in the State and Pawan Kalyan would be the Chief Minister. Stating that people were looking for a change in the State, she said there was a silent revolution in favour their alliance. She urged people not to fall in the trap of TDP and YSRC.
Coming down heavily on the BJP government at the Centre, Mayawati said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been doing ‘Jhumlas’ ahead of the elections. Modi is even using Pulwama terror attack for political gains, she said and added that the borders are not safe in the regime of Modi.The BSP chief toed the line of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu against the Modi government ‘using’ Central agencies like CBI, I-T and ED to terrorise the opponents.
Lauding Mayawati and calling her a motherly-figure, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan said the BSP chief, as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, had reined in her own MLAs when they resorted to criminal activities. “Does Naidu or Jagan has the guts to do so?’’ he asked.
Attacking Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Pawan Kalyan said the TRS chief before 2014 elections promised to make Dalit the CM of the new State. “The people of Telangana rallied behind the TRS, but the party leadership went back on its promise for some reasons. However, we want to make a Dalit the Prime Minister of the nation,’’ he said.