Parliament LIVE UPDATES: Members of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) protest outside Parliament during the ongoing budget session. The party is demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh (Express Photo/Anil Sharma/File)
Following its decision to withdraw support from the NDA this morning, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will move a no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha against the BJP-led government. The move comes a week after two of its ministers — P Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Y S Chowdary — resigned from the Union Cabinet over the Centre’s refusal to grant Andhra Pradesh special status. The decision was taken by TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at an emergency meeting with politburo members this morning. The motion will have to be accepted by at least 50 members — the TDP has 16 members in the House. The Indian Express on Thursday first reported that majority of the party’s MPs and MLAs were in support of TDP quitting the NDA.
Naidu is learnt to have reportedly accused the BJP of “collusion politics”, or using Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s party and actor K Pavan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party to target the TDP. An MP said, “He (Naidu) said that while we are fighting for self-respect, rights of Telugu people, and implementation of promises made to us, the BJP is resorting to collusion politics.”
Read | Signalling support to rival YSR, TDP puts its ally BJP on notice; key politburo meeting today
Jaydev Galla, TDP MP, tells ANI, "BJP has started to play its dirty games. What they did in Tamil Nadu, how they tried to encourage smaller parties and create a rift within larger parties, now, they are trying to bring similar strategies to AP. We have no confidence in the government."
BJP national spokesperson reacts to TDP walking out of NDA coalition. He says, "We believe TDP is finding the going tough in Andhra Pradesh. They are seeing a defeat for themselves in 2019 and want to use this as an alibi to really retrieve lost political ground. Questions are being asked in AP as to why the AP CM took four years to realise that this is not working."
Protests by TDP and AIADMK members outside Parliament this morning. TDP members are demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh while AIADMK MPs are demanding setting up of a Cauvery water management board (CMB).
(Express Photo/Praveen Jain)
The Rajya Sabha as been adjourned till 2.30 pm.
The Lok Sabha has been adjourned till noon over protests from Opposition MPs.
Here is the list of business in the House:
The Trafficking of Persons (Preventive Protection and Rehalibilitation) Bill;The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill
Bill for consideration and passing:
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill.Discussion on alleged systemic irregularities in banking sector and its impact on Indian economy
Private Members' Business.
Asaduddin Owaisi says AIMIM will support the no-confidence motion. "MIM party will support the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha today not only for failure on part of Modi govt to implement State Reorganisation Act, but failure to fulfill their promise to provide employment to youth & for injustice to Muslim Women and Minorities," he reportedly says.
"We have been supporting Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh since the beginning. We want people of the state to get justice. When no-confidence motion is moved you have to talk about government's failures, we are contacting a lot of people," Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge says, reports ANI.
CMI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury says the party supports the no-confidence motion. He tweets, "CPI(M) supports the no-confidence motion being brought against the BJP government. Its betrayal of the promise of special status for Andhra Pradesh is inexcuseable. Its all-round failure and evasion of parliamentary accountability needs to be highlighted."
"Will see what happens in Parliament, which party chooses to go which way. In a way it is election year and every state has demands and issues. It is not right for us to comment on it. It is a custom, before actual elections there is always a rehearsal in Parliament," Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is quoted as saying by ANI.
Members of the Telugu Desam Party are staging a protest outside Parliament. Cries of "we want justice" echo. They have been demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh since the commencement of the ongoing budget session in January.
TDP MP gives no-confidence notice against Narendra Modi-lef government.
The TDP officially withdrew support from the BJP-led NDA this morning. The Indian Express had first reported that Naidu accused the BJP of "collusion politics", or using Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP and actor K Pavan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party to target the TDP. He also said there was a strong anti-BJP mood, as reflected in the bypoll results a day on Wednesday. Read more here.
The Telugu Desam Party will move a no-confidence motion against the Modi government in the Lok Sabha today. The decision was taken after party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu held an emergency teleconference with members of the politburo, including party MPs and MLAs. Follow our live blog for the latest news and updates.