Felt pointless to stay in NDA, Govt promises ‘tardy’: AP CM to Amit Shah

Amaravati: TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu 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.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday snapped ties with the BJP and exited the alliance with NDA over the Centre’s refusal to grant Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday snapped ties with the BJP and exited the alliance with NDA.
The decision was taken by Naidu in a teleconference and was unanimously passed by party politburo.
The TDP also moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government in Lok Sabha.
Naidu told MPs the no-confidence motion should be on not granting special status to Andhra and not implementing the assurances given to the state in the AP Reorganization Act.
Earlier on Thursday, Naidu, who is at loggerheads with the Centre over the demand for special status for state, said that Prime Minister Modi is trying to repeat in Andhra Pradesh what he has done in Tamil Nadu where BJP supported OPS faction against EPS in the AIADMK.
In a teleconference with party MPs, Naidu alleged that the BJP was following ‘divide and rule policy’.
He also accused the BJP of resorting to using Jagan Mohan Reddy and Pawan Kalyan against TDP.
Naidu further said that instead of addressing the issues raised by the state such as allocating special funds, bridging revenue gap or special category status as promised in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Modi was using the Tamil Nadu template to pit YSRCP and Jena Sena against TDP.
Union ministers P Ashok Gajapati Raju and Y S Chowdary had quit on March 8 after a meeting with the prime minister.