Holding the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) “equally responsible” for the inordinate delay in obtaining the Special Category Status, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat on Sunday expressed doubts about the sudden change in the ruling party’s stand over the crucial issue.
“The Opposition parties have been highlighting the issue for the last four years. But the TDP leaders seemed to have woken up all of a sudden and started shouting in Parliament and outside,” he said, while suspecting that some “bargaining” might be taking place behind the scenes between the TDP and the BJP and the same could be the reason for the sudden change in the TDP’s stand. Mr. Karat was the chief guest at the three-day State-level conference of the CPI(M) on the second day and spoke at length about the developments in the State and at the Centre.
‘State not clear’
“From the beginning, the State government is not clear about the special status. At first, it demanded status and later welcomed the package. As the package had been reduced to additional funding and the Opposition parties took up the issue, the TDP is now forced to speak about it,” he said. It was not correct on the part of the Telugu Desam Party to throw the entire blame on the BJP, as it was a part of the coalition and promised the status to the people during the last general elections.
Poll strategy
Referring to the CPI(M)’s poll strategy for the general elections scheduled for 2019, Mr. Karat said a draft policy would be released on February 13 and the final strategy during the party’s national conference scheduled for the third week of April.
“Defeating the BJP is our main agenda and its implementation will begin from the ensuing elections to the Tripura Assembly,” he said.
State secretariat committee member Y. Venkateswara Rao, State committee member Mantena Seetharam and other leaders were present.
