Andhra lining up rallies in special category row
The demand for special category status for Andhra Pradesh is set to morph into a major agitation in the state led by a group of social organisations and political parties barring the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its erstwhile ally BJP.
While the BJP described the agitation plans as a tool for political gains, the TDP which is not part of the new platform has extended moral support to it.
At a meeting on Monday in Vijayawada, a joint action committee (JAC) of the political parties and social organisations under the umbrella of Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samithi (Committee to achieve special category status) announced a series of programmes.
As part of the programme, the JAC, comprising the Left parties, AAP, YSR Congress party, Jana Sena Party, civil society organisations, students and youth organisations, called for blockade of all national highways passing through Andhra Pradesh on March 22 for four hours between 10 am and 2 pm to highlight the demand for special category status and implementation of other
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promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act. “This is just a beginning. We are going to intensify our stir till the NDA government at the Centre feels the heat of the people’s anger,” JAC leader Chalasani Srinivas said.
Another JAC leader and Telugu actor Shivaji said next, there would be blockade of functioning of central government undertakings. “Let us see why the Centre will not come down if the gas supplies from ONGC and Gail are blocked,” he said.
TDP official spokesman and MLC Babu Rajendra Prasad said, “We will chalk out our own programmes of action. But we always extend our solidarity with anybody who fights for the rights of the state. When opposition parties in the state called for state bandh on the same issue, we extended our support,” he said.
State BJP president Kambhampati Hari Babu said, “The opposition parties have been whipping up passions among the people on special category status all these days and now even the TDP has joined for political gains. We have already made it clear that the Centre was committed to implementing all the promises made in bifurcation act.”