VIJAYAWADA: The meeting organised by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu with representatives of several political parties and people’s organisations at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi on Tuesday adopted a resolution condemning the attitude of the Centre towards Andhra Pradesh.
“The Union government has failed in fulfilling the promises made to AP. The Central government has deceived the State, especially in the case of Special Category Status,’’ members who attended the meeting observed and demanded that the Centre immediately fulfil the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act and assurances made by the then Prime Minister, particularly SCS and industrial incentives.
The Chief Minister said that almost all national political parties had supported Andhra Pradesh’s fight.
Stating that the emergency meeting was convened to take everyone’s suggestions on how to take the fight forward in the Parliament, he said despite the government inviting all political parties and organisations that fought for the State during bifurcation and the ones that were fighting now, three parties - BJP, YSRC and Jana Sena - didn’t turn up.
He also said, “We have been hoping for a discussion on the no-confidence motion everyday. Almost all parties across the country are favourable for a discussion on our issues in the Parliament. We are giving information on important aspects to all political parties through pen drives.”
The meeting was attended by TDP, Congress, CPI, CPM, Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samithi and several other people’s organisations.
The meeting called for a peaceful movement and decided to educate people of Andhra Pradesh and prepare them for the fight in the coming 10 days.
The Chief Minister stressed that the protest should be peaceful, yet strong. “We will fight for justice without giving scope for violence,” he said.
The meeting decided to extend invitation to student organisations and more employees’ associations as well as those political parties which did not attend the first meeting.
Employees’ associations announced that they would protest on the lines of Japan by working for extra hours. The meeting called for wearing black badges as a sign of protest against the Centre till April 6. It also requested the government to convene an extensive meeting again by inviting all political parties and associations to chalk out an action plan.
Leaders of both the Left parties P Madhu (CPM) and K Ramakrishna (CPI), despite attending the meeting organised by Naidu, maintained that they would not join the government in the movement for achieving SCS and other provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act.
“We have asked the TDP to take equal responsibility along with BJP for the injustice meted out to the State. Though we insisted that the government fight for the cause of SCS and convene an all-party meeting, the government ignored it for the last four years and even filed cases against us for organising a movement for SCS. So, we have decided against joining the TDP and agitate separately,’’ the Left party leaders said.
Congress party leaders J Goutham and G Rudraraju said that the State government at least agreed that the Congress party had done justice to the state.
Naidu has no moral right to hold all-party meet: Jagan
Alleging that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu went on suppressing movements taken up by YSRC for the cause of Special Category Status (SCS), YSRC chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy said that the former had no moral right to hold all-party meeting on SCS.
Addressing a gathering at Sattenapalli of Guntur district as part of his Praja Sankalpa Yatra on Tuesday, Reddy said there were attempts to foil all the protests and bandh calls. Students were threatened with dire consequences when they were attending in large numbers to Yuva Bheri programmes which were aimed at creating awareness among the youth.
Purposeless meet: Pawan
Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan, who skipped the all-party meeting conducted by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, said the meeting lacked any purpose and opined that it was nothing but a political strategy of TDP. He said it was meant to divert the attention of five crore people of the State.