AP Congress president Y S Sharmila on Friday held a protest against denial of Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh. She sat on a dharna at the Ambedkar statue in AP Bhavan in Delhi on the day.
She was accompanied by senior Congress leaders N Raghuveera Reddy, M M Pallam Raju, J D Seelam and others. She asked the state and the Central government to take steps to grant SCS to the state at the earliest.
She blamed the YSR Congress for not raising the SCS issue in the last five years. She said that 31 MPs of the YSR Congress were sleeping in Parliament without asking for what was promised to the state at the time of bifurcation. She questioned the YSR Congress MPs for remaining silent for years together and doing injustice to the state.
She said that the Centre had promised SCS to the state, Dugarajapatnam Port, steel plant in Kadapa, railway zone in Visakhapatnam besides other things. She wondered why the state government is silent on these issues. She wanted to know what was stopping the YSR Congress from asking for these issues from the Centre.
She blamed the BJP leadership at the Centre for going back on the bifurcation promises. She asked the BJP-led government at the Centre to give SCS to the state at the earliest. She also wanted the Centre to give everything that was promised for the state at the time of bifurcation.
She said that the BJP had won neither an MP seat nor an MLA seat in Andhra Pradesh. But the party was ruling the state, she said. She also regretted that the YSR Congress had become a slave to the BJP in the state. She wanted to know why the YSR Congress was doing slavery to the BJP when none of the bifurcation issues were implemented.
She said that both the YSR Congress and the BJP have betrayed the people of the state by going back on the promises. She said that people would teach a lesson to the two parties if they fail to get the SCS and other issues resolved at the earliest.
She wanted to know what agreement that both the YSR Congress and the BJP have to stop asking for the SCS and other issues. She asked the YSR Congress to tell people what was stopping them from fighting the special category status and other issues.
Earlier in the day, Sharmila met senior leaders Sharad Pawar, Sitaram Yechuri and others and requested them to raise the SCS and other bifurcation issues of Andhra Pradesh in Parliament.
