Hyderabad — YSR Congress president and leader of opposition in Andhra Pradesh Assembly YS Jaganmohan Reddy has said that he was willing to support any party which gives Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh. “If the BJP does not give the SCS, there is no question of supporting [it],” he said.
Talking to the media Santarapur village in Prakasham district this morning during the course of his ongoing statewide padyatra (tour of the state on foot), Jaganmohan Reddy termed Telugu Desam’s decision to pull out its two ministers from the NDA government at the Centre as “people’s victory”.
Reacting to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s announcement that his party was quitting the NDA government in protest over Centre’s refusal to give SCS to the state, Jaganmohan Reddy said, “It is the result of people’s pressure. It is the victory of the people of Andhra Pradesh. Chandrababu Naidu had to bow before the people’s wishes”.
Announcing that YSR Congress will move a no-trust motion against Narendra Modi government in Parliament on March 21 he said that if TDP was sincere in its fight for SCS, it should support the motion. “If TDP moves a no-trust motion we are ready to support it,” he said. “If all the 25 Lok Sabha members from the state resign on March 21, it will become a subject of discussion all over the country. Then the Centre will be forced to come down,” he said.
Jaganmohan Reddy questioned the sincerity of Naidu’s decision to quit the Union cabinet while continuing to remain in the NDA as alliance partner. “What is the meaning of this?” he asked. He also wanted to know why Naidu wanted to talk to Modi after deciding to pull out his party of the cabinet.
Holding both the TDP and the BJP responsible for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, he said that the YSRCP was the only party which had steadfastly opposed it.
Pointing out that nothing was new in yesterday’s statement of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely rejecting the demand for SCS, Jaganmohan Reddy said that Naidu should have come out of NDA when Jaitely had made a similar statement long ago. “If he had come out soon after the first statement of Jaitely rejecting the SCS, the situation would have been totally different,” he said.