In what could be a test for chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s seriousness on the issue of special status for Andhra Pradesh, APCC chief N Raghuvira Reddy wants him to lead an all party delegation to the Prime Minister to exert pressure for the special category status to state.
Writing a letter to the chief minister Chandrababau Naidu, the AP Congress chief opined that there had been no progress as expected in the implementation of the decision of UPA government with centre not taking the matter seriously. He assured the chief minister that Congress party representatives would bear their expenditure incurred in the course of the trip to Delhi in order not to put the burden on the state exchequer.
It was an opportunity for Naidu to prove his genuine commitment on the issue even though he did not broach the subject before the PM when the latter lain foundation for capital city Amaravati, he said.
APCC president said it was the right time go to Delhi as the winter session of the parliament was in session and all important leaders would be available in the nation capital. Stating that an all party delegation would demonstrate the gravity of before union government, Raghuvira said Naidu should be proving the apprehension that he traded with centre on the matter to bail himself out of cash-for-vote case, if he failed to take a delegation to New Delhi.
Raghuvira recalled how all political parties demanded special status to Andhra Pradesh before the 2014 elections when the then UPA government agreed for special status for five years. ” You are aware that UPA government decided to accord special status for five years for the development of successor state of Andhra Pradesh when the division of the state looked imminent. Then you insisted on a 15-year period special status. In Rajya Sabha, BJP leader Venkaiah demanded special status for 10 years. The BJP included the issue in their poll manifesto, while Narendra Modi, as PM candidate of the BJP, assured special status to Andhra Pradesh in the campaign. But, in the past one and half year, there has be no progress on the assurance,” Raghuvira said. The AP Congress chief also recalled how the party had been organizing various programs demanding the implementation UPA government decision, how Congress president Sonia Gandhi raised the matter in Parliament and Rahul Gandhi wrote to PM.
In this back drop, Raghuvira said, it would be in the fitness of things for the chief minister to lead an all party delegation to the New Delhi to meet the Prime Minister honoring the sentiments of the people of Andhra Pradesh. Would Naidu take into account of a letter written by a party which has no presence in Assembly.
