Two TDP ministers resign from Modi govt over Andhra special status issue

Two Union ministers of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) resigned from their posts on Thursday over the issue of special status to Andhra Pradesh after meeting prime minister Narendra Modi.

The two TDP ministers who have resigned from the Modi government are civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and minister of state for science and technology YS Chowdary.

Raju and Chowdary later told reporters that their party will continue to part of the ruling alliance.

“We are continuing as part of the NDA. The problems are well known and we are hopeful that the committments made by the national parties at the time of bifurcation will be met. Everyone in Andhra Pradesh wants that the promises should be implemented. Solutions are being attempted. We are trying to get solutions. We hope solutions will come. We have resigned in a cordial atmosphere,” Chowdhry said.

“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 considerable amount of time has lapsed,” Chowdary added.

Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP in Andhra has been unhappy with the central government for not granting the state a special status.

Naidu announced on Thursday that its two ministers in the Modi government would be resigning.

“As a first step, both our central ministers will resign from the Narendra Modi cabinet on Thursday morning,” Naidu told journalists late in the night. “With regard to alliance with the BJP, we will decide on party-to-party basis later,” he said.

Aviation Minister and TDP MP Ashok Gajapathi Raju's resignation letter to PM Narendra Modi pic.twitter.com/DXFbagSzWs

— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2018

Naidu made the announcement after discussions with his party’s members of Parliament in Delhi through teleconference and his own cabinet ministers in the state secretariat in Amaravati, following an announcement by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi categorically ruling out special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

The TDP has 16 members in the Lok Sabha and six in the Rajya Sabha.

Grant of special status to a state brings more central assistance for developmental works along with incentives for its industrial promotion.

For special category status category states, the Centre meets 90% of the funds required in a centrally sponsored scheme as against 60 per cent in case of normal category states. The remaining funds are provided by the state governments.