Reiterating that it was the Bharatiya Janata Party which espoused the cause of Andhra Pradesh at the time of bifurcation, MLC Somu Veerraju on Friday accused Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of double standards from the very beginning, stating that Seemandhra and Telangana were like two eyes for him.
It was Mr. Naidu who had observed that the Special Category Status (SCS) would not bring in any substantial benefit to the State, which was the reason why he accepted the Union government’s offer of special financial assistance.
The Chief Minister now reverted to the argument that SCS was the right of Andhra Pradesh and vowed to fight for it, apparently forgetting his previous statement that those protesting in the name of special status would go to jail. That being the case, how should his (Naidu’s) fresh statements on the SCS be construed? Mr. Veerraju questioned.
Speaking at a Meet-the-Press programme here on Friday, Mr. Veerraju recalled that Mr. Naidu had clearly vouched for the special package and even got a resolution passed in the Legislative Assembly thanking the Centre for giving it.
TDP MPs had maintained stoic silence in the Rajya Sabha when the BJP took up the cause of A.P. by demanding that the SCS, which the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh proposed for five years, should be extended to 10 years under the leadership of M. Venkaiah Naidu.
Mr. Chandrababu Naidu knew that the Polavaram project would not be possible if the seven mandals in Khammam district facing submergence, were not merged with A.P. He should remember that it was BJP which got an ordinance passed for it amid stiff resistance from Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao.
The BJP leader said that even before Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reached Amaravati for laying the foundation for the capital city, word was going around that he (the PM) would announce a ₹1 lakh crore package to Andhra Pradesh and that he was eventually made a butt of ridicule, that he gave nothing but ‘matti’ (soil) and ‘neeru’ (water), in what he alleged was a deliberate campaign.
