‘YSR Congress MPS will quit on April 6’

HYDERABAD: All the MPS belonging to YSR Congress party will resign from their parliamentary membership on April 6, if the National Democratic Alliance government does not concede special category status to Andhra Pradesh by then, party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy said on Tuesday.

“The budget session, which is resuming on March 5, will continue till April 6. Our party MPS will continue their fight and make all out efforts to bring pressure on the Centre to grant special category status to AP. If there is no response from the Centre even after our best efforts, the YSRC MPS will submit their resignations,” Jagan said, addressing a massive rally at Kalikiri in Nellore district. The YSRC president held an emergency meeting of his party MPS, MLAS and senior leaders after the conclusion of his padyatra on Monday evening and discussed the strategy to be adopted in the wake of growing unrest among the people over the raw deal meted out to AP in the Union budget.

The YSRC won eight Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 elections, but two of them switched over to the TDP and another MP has chosen to remain neutral. It has one MP in Rajya Sabha. The Special Category Status was one of the major promises made by the UPA in Parliament while passing the AP Reorganisation Act in February 2014. “On March 1, our party will lay siege to all collector offices and also at the CM’S office in Vijayawada, demanding the state should refuse to accept the special financial package and instead stick to the special category status demand,” he said.