BJP Floor leader P. Vishnu Kumar Raju on Thursday said the Telugu Desam Party should not have pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Speaking at the media point, Mr. Raju said the TDP had walked into the trap set by the YSR Congress.
He said the YSR Congress had drummed up public sentiment for Special Category Status (SCS) and the TDP too was demanding it now. He said the Central government made promises to Andhra Pradesh when it disbursed 32% revenue to the States, but subsequently increase its share to 42%.
Once this was done, the Centre said it could not give the SCS to AP or any other State.
The BJP leader said his party was committed to the development of Andhra Pradesh. “It has already catered to 85% of the assurances mentioned in the Reorganisation Act in just three-and-half-years while the Centre had 10 years. The Centre sanctioned 11 top institutions and work on them had begun in such a short duration though there was still time to complete.”
Telugu Desam Ministers and MLAs said they were offended by the way Finance Minister Arun Jaitley spoke about the sentiments of the people. Minister Nakka Ananda Babu said Mr. Jaitley never spoke so harshly. His words were very hurting.
Another Minister KS Jawahar said the people’s interests were more important to the TDP than political interests.
MLAs GV Anjeneyulu and Ithabathuni Ananda Rao said Mr. Jaitley had hurt the feelings of five crore people of Andhra Pradesh.
