YSR Congress chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday lashed out Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s move to withdraw two of his party men from the Union Cabinet, demanding to know why the Telugu Desam Party was still part of the coalition in the Centre.
This comes after the state witnessed high drama on Wednesday following Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that Andhra Pradesh would not be accorded Special Category Status. The CM convened a meeting, and at the end of it he declared that two of his minister’s would be resigning from the Union Cabinet.
“The same statement was made by Jaitley on September 8, 2016, and Naidu had praised him then and mocked us saying what can the Special Category Status do for the state and that it’s not ‘sanjeevani’. But now he’s changed his stand because elections are approaching,” alleged Jagan Mohan.
In the press meet called by Chandrababu late on Wednesday night, he said, “Being a mature leader, I called up the Prime Minister, but it looks like the message didn’t reach him, so our ministers will resign tomorrow and come out … The purpose for which we put our members in the Cabinet has failed, we're calling back our leaders."
On this, Jagan Mohan said, “It is surprising! What was the need for him to call the PM when he is withdrawing his MPs? Why is he still acting like the NDA convener?”
He added that it was due to public pressure that the TDP chief had decided to withdraw his ministers.
“This is a people’s victory. People put pressure on the government to demand Special Category Status for the state. This along with the fact that elections are approaching and the YSRCP ultimatums for a no-confidence motion has forced the CM to react in this manner,” said Jagan Mohan. “Chandrababu had to bow to the people. We are happy that he has bowed to them.”
He also slammed the CM for upsetting a YSRCP protest demanding Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh. “When I was on a hunger strike in Guntur, he sent the police to disrupt our protest saying the PM was visiting the state. They thought our protest, held by an Opposition leader, would show the state in poor light when the PM was visiting. Is this something a sane person would do?”
Jagan Mohan added that YSRCP MPs would protest and may even resign in a show of no-confidence against the state government. He said that he welcomed the CM to join this protest.