GUNTUR: YSRC president and Opposition Leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has no moral right to call an all-party meeting on special category status as he had made every effort to scuttle the same in the last four years. He alleged that Naidu called the all-party meeting only to hijack the issue.
He also urged the TDP MPs to resign from Parliament along with the YSRC members to send a strong message to the nation on special category status (SCS).
He was addressing a huge gathering as part of his Praja Sankalpa Yatra at Sattenapalli of Guntur district on Tuesday.
“We organised dharnas, protests, fasts and awareness programmes on SCS. However, the Naidu government has made every effort to scuttle them. There were attempts to foil all protests and bandhs on the issue. The students were threatened with dire consequences when they were attending Yuva Bheri programmes, which were aimed at creating awareness among the youth on the issue,” Jagan said.
“CM Naidu has no other option but to ask his party MPs to resign from Parliament by the end of the budget session along with YSRC MPs. It will create a favourable situation and the Centre will yield to our demands,” Jagan hoped.
He said that Naidu was on the other side of the fence till March 15. Naidu had spoken against SCS and favoured the special package announced by the Centre in lieu of SCS. He even passed a resolution in the Assembly, praising the Centre for the same.
“Public opinion turned in favour of SCS after the YSRC intensified its agitations and announced that a no-confidence motion will be moved against the Centre and party MPs will resign on the last day of the session. We have written letters to the leaders of various political parties. And many political parties supported the State on SCS. All these developments made Naidu anxious and on March 16, he took a U-turn and announced that his party will also move a no-confidence motion against the Centre,” Jagan said.
In the last four years, even though the TDP was part of the government, Naidu didn’t raise the SCS issue with the Centre. After coming out of the NDA, Naidu took up the SCS issue only to cover up the rampant corruption and irregularities in various infrastructure development projects in AP, he alleged.