YSR Congress party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday alleged that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's visit to Delhi was not to demand Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh, but to further his own interests.
Stating that Naidu was in Delhi seeking support to avoid 'the heat' of corruption charges that he was facing, Jagan lashed out at the Chief Minister stating that he always placed his own interests above the state.
“Naidu is in the national capital only to save his skin. There is no other convincing reason for his visit after YSRC announcing that its MPs will resign and go on an indefinite hunger strike,” Jagan told a large gathering in Guntur, which had assembled as he completed the 127th day of his Praja Sankalpa Yatra on Tuesday.
“We have requested Chandrababu Naidu to join hands with us. The Centre will take note if scores of MPs quit the Lok Sabha. Naidu has refused to ask his MPs to quit Lok Sabha as he is not committed to the cause,” Jagan added.
Talking about the recent outbreak of gastroenteritis in Guntur, which killed several people in March, Jagan said, " The CM’s house is just over 40 km from here yet he does not take any action. Diarrhoea is not a life-threatening disease and could be treated, but in Guntur, 25 people died within a week. People of Old Guntur are not sure if the water they are drinking is potable. But this CM does not care to address these issues. Instead, he allows his MLAs to plunder the natural wealth of the State from river sand to quarry stone to coal."
Jagan also reiterated that his party MPs would quit on the last day of the Parliament session (April 5) and sit on an indefinite hunger strike at the Andhra Bhavan.
Both the YSRCP and the TDP, which pulled out of the NDA on March 16, have moved no-confidence motions against the government over its refusal to accord special category status to Andhra Pradesh as committed at the time of the state's bifurcation in 2014.
However, the same could not be taken up by the Lok Sabha Speaker throughout the last two weeks due to the protests by the AIADMK members over the issue of the Cauvery board.