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Andhra special status: Modi-Naidu talks fail, TDP members quit; 10 updates

Amid deteriorating ties between TDP and BJP, Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Y S Chowdary tendered their resignations, but will remain part of NDA

BS Web Team  |  New Delhi 

Ashok Gajapathi Raju
TDP leader and Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju

Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Thursday quit the Modi government, with its ministers P Ashok Gajapathi Raju (Civil Aviation) and Y S Chowdary (Science and Technology) submitting their resignations. The two ministers drove to Narendra Modi's residence and handed over their resignations in accordance with the party's decision to resign over the TDP's charge that the Centre was not granting special status to Andhra Pradesh.
"We will continue to be a part of the NDA but not take up any ministerial positions. I don't think there is anything wrong in that. I don't think it's fair on our part to expect PM to deal with these issues. It's for the concerned ministries to take up, already a considerable amount of time has lapsed," Y S Choudhary said as reported by ANI.
TDP ministers resign
Union Minister and TDP MP YS Choudhary's resignation letter to PM Narendra Modi

After Chandrababu Naidu had asked TDP ministers to resign from the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers in the state Cabinet — State Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas and State Endowment Minister Pydikondala Manikyala Rao — also submitted their resignations.

“This is the first step. We will go ahead with other actions later,” Naidu said. "You are holding the hand of the North Eastern states but not Andhra Pradesh's. You are giving industrial incentives to them, not to Andhra Pradesh. Why this discrimination?"

TDP was an ally of the BJP during the NDA-I years from 1998 to 2004, and then again from 2014 onwards.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday promised that funding equivalent to special-category status would be provided to Andhra Pradesh. He said granting the status to any state except for Northeast and three hilly provinces would not be constitutionally possible after the implementation of the 14th Finance Commission.

For special category status, the Centre gives 90 per cent of the funds required in a centrally sponsored scheme (CSS) as against 60 per cent in case of normal category states. The remaining is provided by the state government. The Centre committed to provide 90 per cent of the funds through external agencies like World Bank, the Naidu government wanted the funds to come through National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (Nabard).

Here are the top 10 developments around Chandrababu Naidu pulling the TDP out of the NDA:

1) Two TDP ministers resign from Modi Cabinet: After meeting Narendra Modi, the two TDP ministers, A Gajapathy Raju and YS Choudhary tender their resignation to Modi.


The two TDP ministers in the Modi government on Wednesday night were instructed to resign from the Union Cabinet on Thursday by Chandrababu Naidu. The TDP ministers concerned are Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Minister of State for Science and Technology Y S Chowdary.

According to sources, while Naidu consulted with his party legislators in Amaravati, Civil Aviation Minister Raju attended the Wednesday meeting of the Union Cabinet. According to news agencies, nearly all TDP legislators and Members of Parliament (MPs) urged Naidu to walk out of the NDA.


On Wednesday, Naidu had said that Jaitley's announcement was the "last straw" for him. Following mounting pressure from the Opposition, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister had repeatedly insisted on a special category status for his state. Naidu added that Jaitley's statement was nothing but insulting to the TDP.

The TDP supremo and chief minister added that as a courtesy, he had tried to speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the phone to inform him about the decision to pull out of the NDA government. "It is my responsibility as a coalition partner to inform the prime minister about our party's decision. My OSD spoke to his OSD but the prime minister did not come on line," he said.

Naidu said Jaitley's comments suggested that Andhra Pradesh was asking for too much. He also slammed the finance minister for saying "sentiments will not decide the quantum of funds". He said that he made 29 trips to Delhi, met with Prime Minister Modi and other ministers, and tried to do his best to do justice to his state. "I am not angry with anybody," he added.

Naidu hoped that at least now the Centre would respect the sentiment of Andhra Pradesh's people.
2) TDP to remain part of NDA: TDP leader Y S Chowdary today said he and his colleague Ashok Gajapathi Raju were stepping down as ministers as it was necessitated by "unavoidable circumstances" but the party would continue to be part of the NDA.

Likening the decision to an unfortunate divorce, Chowdary, the Union minister of state for science and technology, said he and Raju, Union civil aviation minister, would continue to work as parliamentarians for Andhra Pradesh.

"We will be happy when marriages happen, not when divorces happen. It is not a good move, but unfortunately due to unavoidable circumstances we had to take this move. We are stepping down as ministers, but our president has said we will be continuing as part of NDA," Chowdhary said, reported PTI.

The beauty of democracy, he said, was to bring unanimity and make everyone happy and this was the BJP's responsibility.

"When they are in responsible positions they will have to balance such things and during the process of balancing they will have to face such situations," Chowdhary added.

Noting that he and Raju would continue to work in their personal capacities as parliamentarians and exert pressure to achieve their demand, Chowdhary said, "All parliament members will work for this. We hope we will succeed in getting special status..."

Asked about Congress president Rahul Gandhi's offer of giving special status to Andhra Pradesh if the party came to power, he said it was a hypothetical situation.

According to Raju, "The division was done unscientifically, this is told today by even those who did it. And it needs corrective action. That is what we are requesting now."

The TDP has 16 MPs in the Lok Sabha.

3) Salute Naidu's courage, time for Nitish to speak up: The opposition RJD in Bihar today challenged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to take a cue from his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrababu Naidu and "speak up" on the issue of special status for the state.


Accusing Kumar of remaining silent on issues such as vandalism of statues and alleged insult to women leaders like Mayawati and Renuka Chowdhury, the opposition party has warned the government of launching an agitation, if the chief minister failed to raise his voice on the issue of special status.

"We salute Chandrababu Naidu for showing the courage to stick to the stand he took on the issue of special status for Andhra Pradesh. The effect of creation of Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh is similar to the impact carving out of Jharkhand had on Bihar. But there appears to be a big difference between the chief ministers of the two states", RJD national spokesman Manoj Jha said, reported PTI.
4) Will support whoever promises 'Special Category Status': "Whosoever is ready to give 'special category status' to Andhra Pradesh, It will have YSRCP's support," YS Jagan Mohan Reddy told media.

The YSRCP chief further said that all options are open from the party and Andhra Pradesh "comes first for us and is above all the other issues."

5) Classic case of opportunistic politics: "BJP considers it as a classic case of opportunistic politics by Chandrababu Naidu. It's also politics of convenience," Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao said.
"In 2018, one year before the elections again, he (Naidu) withdraws conveniently. The very reason for his withdrawal is to ensure that the BJP does not grow by itself and acquire equity, politically, in Andhra Pradesh," Rao told PTI. On what the BJP's approach should now be vis-a-vis TDP, he appeared to indicate that the Naidu-led outfit would snap ties with the NDA.

"We also look at this event (TDP's decision to quit the NDA government) which happened yesterday as an opportunity for the BJP to rise in Andhra Pradesh by itself," Rao said. "We look at it as a silver lining, and as a historic opportunity to disconnect from the TDP, and give the BJP a clear and open chance to grow itself (in Andhra Pradesh), and to get the kind of mandate which people across the country have given to BJP state after state.”

He alleged that the issue of special category status (SCS) is being used to mislead the people.

6) Other parties putting pressure on Naidu with false propaganda: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar today claimed that YSR Congress and other parties were creating "political pressure" with "false propaganda" on the issue of special status to Andhra Pradesh, which may have forced Naidu to take such a step.


The YSR Congress is "falsely propagating" that the Centre has not done anything for Andhra Pradesh. Amid this political pressure, Naidu has taken certain decisions, he said, and added, "Otherwise, Naidu and the TDP have always been with the BJP."

On TDP's demand of special status, he said, the category of 'special status' does not exist after the implementation of 14th Finance Commission. "Still, we gave a special package of Rs 14,500 crore to the state... additional Rs 5,000 crore aid has been given to AP." The Modi government is taking care of the interest of Andhra Pradesh people, he added.

7) Rajya Sabha adjourned: Rajya Sabha proceedings were washed out for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday amid uproar by opposition members and those from the NDA ally TDP over special category status. Several members raised slogans, forcing Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to adjourn the House till 2 pm. Ashok Gajapathi Raju was not present in the House even though it was the question day of his ministry. However, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha was present.
8) Shiv Sena says overconfident' NDA doesn't share good relations with allies: "Other parties have walked out of NDA too. Allies no longer have good relations with BJP. Gradually their grudges will spill out and eventually they'll walk out of the alliance," said Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who represents Maharashtra in the Rajya Sabha. He said that he saw this coming.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said the BJP had become overconfident and would face challenges in 2019 general elections. "Former NDA leaders had kept the alliance together. Now it's overconfident. 2019 will be challenging for the BJP," she said.
9) Ramdas Athawale bats for TDP-BJP patch up: Senior Congress party leader Renuka Chowdhury termed the rift between BJP and its coalition partner TDP as 'sabre-rattling', adding that if the TDP wanted they would have pulled out of the alliance.

"I don't understand what are they trying to do, it is sabre-rattling. What was the government doing till now? They are still pretending to withdraw and not doing it and just getting two ministers resign. It is unfortunate," said the Rajya Sabha MP, who comes from Andhra Pradesh.

Another Congress MP Ahmed Patel also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his handling of the crisis, where the TDP is seeking Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.


10) Chandrababu Naidu alleges discrimination by Centre: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said that Jaitley's statement on Wednesday that his state could not be granted a special-category status was not good, news agency ANI reported. "You are holding hand of the North Eastern states but not Andhra Pradesh's. You are giving industrial incentives to them, not to Andhra Pradesh. Why this discrimination?" Naidu said in the state Assembly.


TDP MP YS Chowdary and Ashok Gajapathi Raju will give a statement in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, respectively, according to news agency ANI. Commenting on the BJP-TDP split, YS Chowdary said it was not a good move but, unfortunately, due to unavoidable circumstances, he and Gajapathi Raju were stepping down as ministers. "Our President said that we will continue to be a partner of NDA. We are most likely to meet PM also," he added.



11) BJP says it went 'out of its way' for Andhra: The BJP has rejected Chandrababu Naidu's charge that the Centre has neglected Andhra Pradesh. The party said that the Centre had not only fulfilled all its obligations but also gone out of its way to help the state.

BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao said that the Modi government had worked to ensure that Andhra Pradesh received full resources in the infrastructure and industrial sectors after the bifurcation of the state. Political parties in Andhra Pradesh had been raking up the demand for a special category status for the state without acknowledging that the Centre had offered the state all the benefits without giving this tag, which had become redundant after the 14th Finance Commission report, Rao said. He added that a special category status had ceased to exist.

10) Congress says TDP move 'too little, too late': On Wednesday, the Congress said that the TDP's decision to pull out of the NDA government at the Centre was "too little, too late". The party added that TDP had "done nothing" to protect Andhra Pradesh's interests in the past four years.

"This is too little and too late. The TDP has been an ally of the BJP for four years now and has done nothing to protect the interests of Andhra Pradesh," senior Congress leader from Andhra Pradesh and former Union minister M M Pallam Raju said.

Earlier this week, on Tuesday, Congress President Rahul Gandhi batted for a special-category status for Andhra Pradesh. The Congress President announced this after he joined a protest at Jantar Mantar demanding a 'special status' for the state. MPs of the TDP and the Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) had staged the protest.

Gandhi told the TDP and YSRCP MPs that the Congress party was in favour of granting a special status to Andhra Pradesh. He added that if the Congress came to power in 2019, it would ensure the same.

Later, he tweeted that the united Opposition could force the BJP-led Union government to do justice to the people of Andhra Pradesh.
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First Published: Thu, March 08 2018. 20:24 IST

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