The YSR Congress, the Congress and Left parties lashed out at the ruling TDP-BJP alliance in Andhra Pradesh for failing to get special status for the state after Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in the Lok Sabha that there is no proposal to grant such a status to any state.
YSR Congress demanded that the Telugu Desam Party-led government must withdraw its support to the BJP-led government at the Centre since it had failed to give special status to the state as promised in Parliament.
"Though the Centre is mum on the issue, the state has failed to exert pressure on the Centre which is biding time. The state should pull out from the NDA coalition instead of mortgaging Telugu pride to Delhi," YSR Congress spokesperson K Parthasarathi told reporters here.
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It is high time for Chandrababu Naidu to give an ultimatum to the Centre about the special status issue, since it was assured on the floor of the House and BJP leaders had pressed for special status when they were in opposition, he said.
YSR Congress has already said its leader Y S Jaganmohan Reddy would hold a protest in Delhi in August in support of the demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh.
The opposition parties in AP were reacting to Union Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh's statement in Lok Sabha today that "There is no proposal as of now to grant special status to any state", in reply to a question from a Bihar MP Rajesh Ranjan.
Incidentally, special status was promised to Seemandhra (new Andhra Pradesh) on the floor of Parliament during bifurcation last year as a way of compensation for the loss the state was projected to suffer.
However, it is yet to be implemented.
