Politics denies Andhra Pradesh a chance to wage united fight for SCS

Vijayawada: While Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was said to be contemplating an indefinite hunger strike demanding special category status in Delhi, YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announced that his party MPs would quit their posts and will sit on indefinite hunger strike at Andhra Bhawan in Delhi.

If one looks at the chronology of political events in Andhra Pradesh, one doesn’t need to be an expert to gauge the competition between the Telugu Desam and the YSRC to outdo the other in championing the state’s cause by demanding the special category status. The casualty of this rat race is the state’s inability to wage a united bipartisan fight against the Central government.

In Parliament, both TD and YSRC MPs have been giving no-confidence motion notices to Lok Sabha Speaker separately. They are also staging protests on the parliament premises separately for the same cause. In a flip-flop of sorts, Mr Naidu, who had once said that SCS is not a solution to all problems, decided to move a separate no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha. Earlier, he had announced that his party would support the no-confidence motion moved by opposition YSRC.

Increasing the heat over special status demand, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy said YSRC MPs would resign in protest against the Centre’s denial of SCS to AP and asked the Telugu Desam to get its MPs to follow them. But the Telugu Desam rejected the idea.

Another key player in state politics is actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan. Though he had promised to visit Delhi to garner support from other parties to the no-confidence motion if the YSRC acts on it, Pawan is nowhere to be seen in the national capital.

Both Jana Sena and YSRC skipped the all-party and all associations meeting convened by the Chief Minister to discuss the central government’s attitude towards the state and to discuss the plan of action to bring pressure on New Delhi for the implementation of  provisions of AP Reorganisation Act and assurances given by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha.