In Chandrababu Naidu Crisis, An Unreturned Phone Call To PM Narendra Modi: 10 Points
At an emergency press briefing on Wednesday night Chandrababu Naidu said the TDP has taken the "painful decision" to withdraw its ministers from the Centre in the interest of Andhra Pradesh.
TDP has been demanding for central funds for Andhra Pradesh under special status.
Hyderabad: Chandrababu Naidu's two ministers in the central government are yet to resign, but the BJP's two ministers in the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister's state cabinet have quit this morning. Mr Naidu had late last night announced his decision to pull out his Telugu Desam Party's ministers from the centre, hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ruled out "special status" for Andhra Pradesh. TDP lawmaker Ravindra Babu told NDTV that the next "logical step" is to exit the BJP-led national alliance NDA, but Chandrababu Naidu seemed to leave options open, saying he would "plan further course of action" based on the Centre's reaction to his decision.
Here are the top 10 updates on this big story:
K Srinivasa Rao and T Manikyala Rao, the two BJP ministers in the Naidu government, submitted their resignation to the Chief Minister's office in Amravati on Thursday morning.
The two TDP ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Minister of State for Science and Technology YS Chowdary, are expected to resign later in the day. Mr Raju will first speak in parliament.
At an emergency press briefing on Wednesday night Chandrababu Naidu said the TDP has taken the "painful decision" to withdraw its ministers from the Centre in the interest of the state, as it was left with no other option. The TDP joined the NDA just ahead of the 2014 national elections.
"When the intended purpose (of joining the Union Cabinet) has not been served, there is no point in continuing. For me the sole agenda is to safeguard the interests of the state," Mr Naidu said.
On Wednesday evening, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said the Centre was happy to give Andhra Pradesh funds equivalent to what a special category state receives, but said giving it "special category status" as demanded by Mr Naidu was not possible as the 14th Finance Commission had scrapped the scheme for all but north-eastern and three hill states.
"The Centre cannot say now that all the funds that I have will now be given to the states and I have no money because after all the security of India is a Central responsibility," said Mr Jaitley.
Chandrababu Naidu said Mr Jaitley's words were "hurtful and insulting," alleging that they suggested that the TDP was "asking for money at thee expense of the country's Defence Budget... Jaitley spoke like we asked for all the money. We felt insulted."
The chief minister said he tried to speak to PM Modi on phone as a courtesy to inform him about the decision to pull out of the government. "It is my responsibility as a coalition partner to inform the prime minister about our party decision. My OSD spoke to his OSD but the prime minister did not come on line," he said.
The TDP has been deeply upset since Mr Jaitley presented the Union Budget last month, complaining that it neglected Andhra Pradesh. The party faces extreme pressure in the state ahead of assembly elections and the national election next year, with opposition parties accusing Mr Naidu of failing Andhra Pradesh by not ensuring special status for it as a partner at the Centre.
The TDP and other Andhra Pradesh parties say nothing short of "special status" will do as that was promised to the state when it was bifurcated to carve out a new state Telangana, leaving what was left of Andhra Pradesh in a deep revenue deficit.
