Following the silent protest on Thursday at the RK beach in Visakhapatnam, with protesters demanding Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh, the state’s opposition parties are expected to extend support to the protest.
Alleging that CM N Chandrababu Naidu has not been taking enough effort to get special category status for the state, YSR Congress President Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Wednesday announced that his party’s MPs would resign by the end of June and fight the by-elections if the state’s demands are not met.
Making this announcement at a press conference, Reddy asked all the MPs in the state to resign and go to polls in order to attract national attention on the issue.
Deccan Chronicle quotes him, "Let's all go to Delhi. If Chandrababu Naidu is ready, I invite him to take an all-party delegation. I will also join him. If Delhi does not agree, we tell him strongly to withdraw his ministers (in Union Cabinet). We will make all MPs in the state resign. We will go for elections in a way the whole country sees.”
He alleged that Naidu has been mortgaging the interests of Andhra Pradesh on Special Category Status by saying that the benefits are received by state, refusing to ask for special status.
"We will raise the issue in the Budget session of Parliament and after monsoon session, all our MPs will resign and seek a mandate on the special category status plank. If TDP is sincere on the issue, all MPs should quit to make the country know about the importance of special status,” he added.
By extending support to the protest, he has announced that he would participate in the candlelight rally on RK Beach Road in Visakhapatnam on Thursday, and that the state can arrest him if they have to.
He asked the chief minister to take up the issue with Prime Minister Modi, “If the Special Category Status is not accorded, he should withdraw his ministers from Modi cabinet,” he said.
He claimed that when the bill for bifurcation of undivided Andhra Pradesh was passed, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament had promised to give special category status to Andhra Pradesh. The same promise had been made by top BJP leaders also.
However, the NDA government later said that special status cannot be given, and announced a package of benefits to Andhra Pradesh.
Jagan said that the package cannot be a substitute for special status, as benefits like industrial incentives would only come with the special status.