'Babu Can only Plead, not Pressure Centre'

Nobody is there in Delhi to address the concerns of AP, laments JC

HYDERABAD:Veteran politico and TDP MP from the Anantapur parliamentary constituency JC Diwakar Reddy seems to have become a pain in the neck for his party leadership with his sarcastic comments on the expected sops and concessions to Andhra Pradesh from the Centre as part of the promises made to the reorganised State in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.

At a time when his party boss N Chandrababu Naidu keeps his fingers crossed over the Centre’s possible financial aid to the cash-strapped state, Reddy made light of the chief minister’s efforts to persuade the Union government to come to the rescue of the truncated State.

Diwakar Reddy, who was a long time member of the Congress, almost created an embarrassing situation to the TDP chief, saying, “Naidu is unable to exert pressure on the Centre to extract funds and projects to the State as AP is no longer playing a big role in the national politics, given its decreased numerical strength of MPs. In fact, the issue of exerting pressure on the Centre does not arise as Naidu can only petition the Centre for more funds now.”

After attending the engagement function of TDP leader Maganti Venkateswara Rao  alias Babu’s daughter in Eluru on Sunday, the TDP MP made some sarcastic comments on the AP’s decreasing clout in Delhi.

Recalling that at the time of bifurcation of undivided AP, all political parties had promised to address the concerns raised by the people of the State including providing financial aid to the State to overcome financial crisis, Reddy said, “Now, all the promises made to the State in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, have remained unfulfilled. Special Category Status to AP has not been given. Revenue deficit has not been addressed. Nobody cares for AP now.”

“No body is there in Delhi to address the concerns of the MPs belonging to AP. In the erstwhile united AP, the situation was different. As at that time the State had 42 MPs, we used to dictate terms in national politics. But, now the scenario is altogether different as the State is bifurcated,” he lamented.

Hard Nut to Crack for TDP

•  JC Diwakar Reddy seems to have become a hard nut to crack for his party chief and AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu.
•  A few days ago, Reddy openly expressed his ire at PM Narendra Modi’s style of functioning as well as his boss Naidu’s working style.
•  Reddy on Saturday reportedly said a firm ‘no’ to CM Naidu’s appeal to the TDP MPs asking them to donate Rs 1 crore each to carry out relief works in Cyclone Hudhud-hit Vizag.
•  Reddy recently made another sensational comment by raising the “Rayalaseema bogey” on the issue of sharing of river waters.