VIJAYAWADA: The CPI state unit has decided to lay siege to all central government offices in AP on March 11 as part of its move to mount pressure on the Centre for according Special Status to Andhra Pradesh.
Stating this at a news conference here on Friday, CPI state secretary K Ramakrishna said that the Narendra Modi government had reneged on its promise of according Special Status to the state. “Since the state government appears helpless in this regard, we have decided to bring pressure on the Central government by way of agitations.
As part of the move, we will lay siege to all the central government institutions in the 13 districts of AP on March 11”, he said. Taking exception to the Central government not fulfilling any of the assurances made in the AP Reorganisation Act, including the provision of adequate financial help for building the new state capital, bridging the revenue deficit and sanctioning of sufficient funds for construction of the Polavaram project, he pointed out that as against the required amount of ` 6000 cr to the Polavaram project in 3 years, the Centre had sanctioned a paltry sum of Rs 100 cr, he rued and added that the Centre’s offer was not acceptable.
The CPI leader found fault with the likes of Lok Satta supremo Jayaprakash Narayan, film star Pawan Kalyan and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for singing paeans to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP during electioneering and advised them to sincerely strive to protect the interests of the state.
They should all jointly stage a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and press the Centre to accord Special Status to AP.
Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu too should join the protest, they added. Taking exception to Naidu’s comment on the Communist parties about the land requirement for their party buildings, the CPI leader said that they had never opposed the construction of the capital but only wanted the process to be in a transparent and coherent manner.
“The government should come clean on what it intends to do with the acquired land”, he said. In the first three-day (March 3 to 5) state convention of the CPI in the reorganised state of Andhra Pradesh, 596 representatives of its 56,000 members participated.
Representatives of six other Left parties also attended. In all, 30 issues were discussed and resolutions were passed on them. A total of 95 new council members were elected. Of them, 25 were made part of the CPI’s state secretariat and nine were made state executive council members with K Ramakrishna as the state secretary.