KAKINADA: Rajamahendravaram MP M. Bharat has found fault with senior Telugu Desam leader P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju for criticising ruling YSRC and its MPs for their alleged inability to secure from centre Special Category Status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh.
Campaigning for TD MLC north Andhra candidate Chiranjeevi Rao, the senior TD leader told media that in 2019 elections, YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had made SCS the main poll plank. Jagan had promised that if given 25 MPs, he would secure SCS by compelling the centre.
“YSRC got 22 MPs. Yet, it has made no impact on the centre,” Gajapathi Raju underlined. He said he had resigned as union minister and N. Chandrababu Naidu separated from the previous NDA government over the issue. In this context, the senior Telugu Desam leader called upon people to vote for real people’s representatives and not mediators.
Taking objection to this, the YSRC chief whip in Lok Sabha lashed out at Ashok Gajapathi Raju. Bharat pointed out that the then AP CM had first accepted the special package in lieu of the promised special category status. Naidu then took a U turn. He wondered what Naidu and Ashok Gajapathi Raju had been doing for four years when TD and BJP had been in alliance.
The YSRC MP maintained that his party has kept the SCS issue alive till now. “The ruling party will continue with its efforts to secure SCS for the state and also get implemented promises made in AP Reorganisation Act, 2014,” he asserted.
Bharat underlined that the Global Investors Summit at Visakhapatnam has become a success with ₹13 lakh crore investments coming to AP. He asked opposition parties to welcome the development and indulge in positive criticism about the investments.
