'TDP felt that it was pointless to continue in NDA'

TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu tonight wrote to BJP president Amit Shah, saying they felt it pointless to continue in NDA as the union government failed to discharge its constitutional responsibilities in implementing 'Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act,2014' in letter and spirit.

He pointed out that on most of the crucial provisions of the Act, and the assurances given in the Rajya Sabha, the progress was 'tardy, unsatisfactory and disappointing.'

In the four-page letter, the TDP chief, however, did not mention about the 'collusion' between BJP and other parties (YSR Congress and Jana Sena) that he alleged in the morning during a teleconference with party politburo members and MPs.

 

"Today, a feeling is gaining ground in our state that the BJP is not sensitive to the aspirations of our people."

"We feel the government headed by it is not willing to implement in letter and spirit the provisions in the AP Reorganisation Act and the assurances given by the then Prime Minister in Rajya Sabha," he said.

The TDP chief said his party had joined the alliance in the hope that the state would get fair treatment and expectation that the people would get justice.

"When our being in the alliance doesn't serve that purpose, we feel that it is pointless to continue," he noted.

Naidu said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's statement on March 7 to the media made it clear that the union government was not willing to respect the promises made to the five crore people of Andhra Pradesh.

"On that day, our Union Ministers have exited the Council of Ministers. We expected that before the passage of the Finance Bill, necessary modifications will be made to do justice to the people of AP. But now the Budget was passed and our state has not got justice," the Chief Minister said.

The TDP chief said his party joined the NDA under the leadership of the BJP before the 2014 general elections and fought the elections together in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

"It is a different matter that after the elections you have ended our alliance in Telangana without even the courtesy of formally informing us," Chandrababu said.

He recalled that Narendra Modi, the then Prime Ministerial candidate, in his public meetings in Andhra Pradesh, had emphatically assured the people that he would give special category status as well as help the state build a capital city much better than Delhi.

"We were told that the 14th Finance Commission recommended against granting of SCS to any state. Although this was a contestable interpretation of the Finance Commission's report, we went along with it because we were promised that all facilities and incentives that are enjoyed by SCS states will be extended to us in the form of special assistance, except the nomenclature. Sadly, that was not to be," he said.

"The Union government, we feel, has failed to discharge its constitutional responsibilities in implementing the AP Reorganisation Act," the Chief Minister said.

TDP had earlier in the day ended its four-year-old alliance with the BJP and walked out of the NDA, eight days after two of its union ministers resigned over the Centre's refusal to grant Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.

The TDP had moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government in Lok Sabha. YSR Congress also moved a confidence motion.But these were not taken up as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said there was no order in the House and adjourned proceedings for the day amid vociferous protests over various issues.

Union ministers P Ashok Gajapati Raju and Y S Chowdary had quit on March 8 after a meeting with the prime minister.