Cong seeks to put Naidu government on mat

HYDERABAD: The budget session of Parliament is likely to put the Chandrababu Naidu government in AP too in a spot of bother. Opposition parties in the State, particularly the Congress, have been grinding their axes to hit the ruling TDP where it hurts most ' its failure to turn up the heat on the Modi government to honour promises made to the State in the AP Reorganisation Act.

For starters, the special category status promised to the residuary State has been confined to the paper as are other promises including financial assistance for a new capital.

The Congress, which was wiped out in last year's Assembly polls, senses a golden opportunity in the growing apprehensions among the people on this count.

Just a day after Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu advised his MPs 'to request' the BJP to implement the promises and not adopt a confrontational attitude ' the Congress announced an 'unrelenting battle' against the Centre (read BJP-TDP) to achieve special status to AP.

The AP Congress, which has no presence in the Lok Sabha, is planning protests in the Rajya Sabha and also in front of the Gandhi statue on the premises of Parliament on Monday.

'The BJP hoodwinked the people of AP over the promises made in the Reorganisation Act including according special status to the State to help it overcome the current financial crisis,' said former minister and Congress senior leader C Ramachandraiah.

'The Congress will expose the BJP by releasing their 2014 manifesto for AP in which they had repeated the promises made on the floor of the Rajya Sabha when the Reorganisation Act was passed,' he added. Congress leaders from Telangana too have sought to add muscle to their comrades in AP.

Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao said, 'Special status should be given to AP as promised. We extend our whole-hearted support to AP Congress leaders on this issue'.

Rao's colleague Gutta Sukhender Reddy recalled that his party chief Sonia Gandhi had the other day written a letter to the Prime Minister demanding the same. Besides the fireworks in Parliament, the State Congress leaders have also decided to launch a blitzkrieg in the State to corner the TDP and BJP.

They are coming up with posters and banners all over the State - with images of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi accompanied by slogans like 'special status is AP's right'.

On the backfoot, TDP leader and Union Minister of State for Science & Technology YS Chowdary termed the Congress move a political stunt. 'How could Sonia Gandhi write a letter to Prime Minister Modi requesting him to grant special status to AP when the fact is that AP has been left in the lurch because of the unjust act of the Congress itsef!,' he wondered.

However, there are fissures even within the TDP. JC Diwakar Reddy, party MP from Anantapur, made light of the Chief Minister's efforts to put pressure on the Centre.

'He is unable to exert pressure on the Centre to extract funds and projects to the State as AP is longer playing a bigger role in national politics, given its decreased numerical strength of MPs.

In fact, the issue of exerting pressure on the Centre does not arise as Naidu can only petition the Centre for releasing more funds to AP,' he said.