Pawan asks TDP, BJP to fulfill promises

HYDERABAD: Pressure seems to be gradually increasing on the TDP and BJP on the issue of according special category status to Andhra Pradesh as promised by the erstwhile UPA government while bifurcating the undivided AP.

Jana Sena founder and film actor Pawan Kalyan, who was the star campaigner for the TDP-BJP alliance during the general election, broke his long silence and reminded the BJP of its promise made to Andhra Pradesh that it would accord special category status to the truncated state if it came to power at the Centre.

'Now the time has come for BJP to keep its promise. I hope the BJP will not let down the aspirations of people who believed and supported it,' the actor, who is also the younger brother of film actor and Congress leader K Chiranjeevi, tweeted.

Heat on TDP, BJP as Pawan joins...

'Last year, the Congress had the State Bifurcation Bill passed in Parliament in a haphazard manner with BJP's support. The BJP also agreed to grant of special status to the residuary state as it would be the affected region.'

The Jana Sena chief, whom the BJP had used as its trump card to tip the scales in favour of the TDP-BJP alliance, appears to have answered his critics who have been taking potshots at him for his 'silence' on Centre's unfulfilled promises to AP.

In another tweet, Pawan Kalyan advised the TDP government in the state not to make farmers weep while acquiring lands for construction of capital city. The capital city should not gobble up fertile lands, he said in a remark of political significance.

CONG PROTEST IN DELHI: Turning up more heat on the TDP-BJP, over 35 Congress MPs led by Digvijaya Singh and Jairam Ramesh undertook protests in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament complex in Delhi on the first day of the budget session on the same issue.

Holding placards which read, 'Special status is the legitimate right of AP', and 'Provisions of AP Reorganisation Act must be implemented immediately', the Congress leaders resorted to sloganeering.

They recalled that the then prime minister Manmohan Singh had made promises on Polavaram project, special category status, fiscal incentives and tax concessions and Bundelkhand-type package for Rayalaseema and North Andhra.

Stating that the then UPA government had taken senior BJP leaders on board, Congress Rajya Sabha member JD Seelam said the commitments must be implemented.

Later, the Congress leaders called on railway minister Suresh Prabhu and requested him to ensure that all promises made to AP in the Reorganisation Act are implemented.

'We have urged the railway minister to sanction a separate railway zone for AP, sufficient funds for new railway projects,' APCC chief N Raghuveera Reddy said. 'We may not have a single member in the Lok Sabha from AP. But, with the help of our party's colleagues from other states, and AP's Rajya Sabha members, we are making all-out efforts to get special status for the state,' he said.