Political temperature rises as CM Chandrababu Naidu, Jagan cross swords and Pawan seeks to find facts

VIJAYAWADA:  TDP supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday reiterated that Central cabinet portfolios are not important and neither are resignations and stressed that “right step will be taken at the right time”. Naidu has set a deadline of March 5 for the Centre to respond positively to the State’s demand for better budgetary allocations and speedy Central assistance.  Though his comments, made at the TDP coordination committee meeting, were restrained, political circles are abuzz with speculation that the “crucial decision” could be round the corner after Marketing Minister C Adinarayana Reddy, speaking to the media, said, “We raised 19 issues with the Centre. If there is no response, our MPs will resign and TDP will come out of the NDA government.” He did hasten to add that it was his personal opinion but in the same breath, let it be known that it was the opinion of his party colleagues as well.

Earlier, at the TDP coordination committee meeting, Naidu explained at length why he had accepted special package offered by the Centre in lieu of special status to the State. “It was only after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made a statement and assured us that benefits accruing under special package are the same as under special status,” he recalled and exhorted his party leaders to explain to the people how the State government had been consistently taking up the issue of assistance to the State with the Centre. He was particularly severe on YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and asserted that he was not afraid of anything.

“Why will I be afraid? That is Central government, ours is State government. Will one government be afraid of another? I have no cases against me... why are you on the backfoot when they (YSRC) are alleging cases against me when there are none?” Naidu asked his party men, referring to allegations levelled by the YSRC against him. He observed that Jagan was afraid since cases against him were picking up steam and directed his party leaders to expose the Opposition leader.

Jagan, on his part, sought to corner the TDP, daring Naidu to direct his MPs to resign. “Now is not the time to be partisan, but to take a stand and put Andhra Pradesh first. To secure our rightful demand of special category status, every MP from AP must resign. Naidu, follow YSRC’s lead and make your MPs resign! Or will you continue to sell AP’s interest for a so-called special package?” he taunted. The YSRC chief has made his intention to make special status a major poll issue clear and announced that his MPs will quit if the Centre doesn’t grant special status by April 5. 

Even as the TDP and YSRC are locked in one-upmanship over championing the State’s interests, actor and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan is all set to hold the first meeting of his Joint Fact Finding Committee in Hyderabad on Friday. The two-day meet will seek to find out “who is lying” — the Centre or the State government over implementation of the AP Reorganisation Act. Interestingly, he rang up Congress State president Raghuveera Reddy to solicit his support. He has already roped in the Left parties and former MP and known critic of Naidu, Undavalli Arun Kumar.

The Chief Minister refrained from attacking Pawan on Thursday and instead, commented that the actor-turned-politician was striving to help the State just like the TDP. However, he rejected the actor’s demand that the State government release a white paper on Central assistance.

Kapu quota
Even as the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) objected to the state’s decision to extend BC status to Kapus in education and employment, the state government tried to allay the fears of the community by assuring them that the state government would clear all issues raised by the Centre. P5