Andhra Special Status row: YSR Congress gives notice for no-confidence motion against Modi government, gets TDP support

NEW DELHI: The YSR Congress today gave a notice for moving a no-confidence motion against the BJP-led NDA government following the Centre's refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh and found unlikely support from its arch-rival Telugu Desam Party.

The YSR Congress's MP Y V Subba Reddy gave the notice to the Lok Sabha secretariat for including the motion in tomorrow's list of business, his office said.

The motion can be accepted only if it has the support of at least 50 members in the House.

YSR Congress has nine MPs in the Lok Sabha.

If accepted, it will be the first no-confidence motion moved against the Modi-government.

YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy has written to leaders of various parties seeking their support for the motion.

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In the letter, he has asserted that if the Centre remains reluctant to grant the special category status to the state then all MPs of his party will resign on April 6.

While Subba Reddy's office said the notice was given for including the motion in tomorrow's list of business, YSR Congress chief said his party will move the motion on March 21.

Tomorrow Parliament's agenda for the next week will be decided.

In a sign of cross-party support the issue of special category status has in the state, TDP MP Thota Narasimham told PTI that his party will also support the motion.

The YSR Congress is the main challenger to the TDP in the state.

Later, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu also said the TDP would support a no-confidence motion against the BJP-led government at the Centre in the interest of Andhra Pradesh.

"We will support a no-confidence motion, whoever moves it. We will be ready for that and our 16-17 MPs will fully support that. We will cooperate with whoever fights for the state's rights," Naidu told the state Assembly.

With the BJP alone having 274 members in the 536-member Lok Sabha and enjoying support of allies, the no-confidence motion, if accepted, is certain to be defeated but has the potential to put the saffron party in a tight corner in a state like Andhra.

The TDP has withdrawn its ministers from the government after the Centre made it clear that it cannot grant the status to the state and the regional party, which is in power in the state, is now mulling to quit the NDA.

Even if TDP's 16 members support the no-confidence motion, the government will still has a big numerical advantage in the House.

The motion can hand over a political plank to Jagan Reddy in the state in which Assembly polls are due to be held along with the Lok Sabha elections next year.

Reddy, in his letter, recalled that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had given an assurance in the Rajya Sabha while participating in a debate on the bill bifurcating the state that the special category status will be granted to it.

Venkaiah Naidu, then a senior BJP leader who is now the Vice President, had demanded in the House that the status should be given to the state for a minimum of 10 years, Reddy said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has cited 14th Finance Commission report to claim that the provision of special category status is no longer workable for Andhra Pradesh, but asserted that the Centre is willing to grant the state all benefits due under this status.

The BJP has accused regional parties in Andhra Pradesh of playing "politics of victimhood" and claimed that the central government had already given a lot of benefits to the state and was willing to do more.