Taking strong objection to the NDA government’s reneging on its commitment to grant Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh (A.P.), Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said here on Sunday Prime Minister Narendra Modi had cheated the people and that A.P. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had kept quiet because he was keen on protecting his own interests.
“Both Naidu and Jagan Mohan Reddy are scared of Mr. Modi, which is the reason why they are unable to fight for SCS,” he said.
Addressing a public meeting at the Andhra Muslim College grounds, Mr. Gandhi said SCS was the people’s right and the Central government could not deny it whatever be the constraints.
‘Modi broke promise’
He recalled that Mr. Modi said at a meeting in Tirupati in April 2014 that he would grant the Status for 10 years but broke his promise by citing all sorts of excuses.
“We have no fear of Mr. Modi and will fight on behalf of the people of A.P. till the BJP honoured its commitment,” he asserted.
Mr. Gandhi expressed confidence that his party would come to power in 2019 and said the first thing it would do would be to grant the Status.
Polavaram project
Mr. Gandhi said it was the Congress party which recognised Polavaram as a national project and the then Congress government had promised to bear the entire project cost.
Now, Mr. Naidu appears to be not interested in obtaining funds from the Central government for it.
He is saying the State would take it up as only then commissions could be earned.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav demanded that the BJP government must grant special status and also financial package to A.P.