Naidu asks people to work an hour extra

As the no-trust motion of Telugu Desam and YSR Congress party against the Narendra Modi government continues to be in limbo in Parliament, both the parties have decided to intensify their agitation on the issue of special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

Chief Minister and TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, his cabinet colleagues and all members of the state assembly and the staff members of legislature and the state secretariat attended their duties yesterday wearing black badges as a mark of protest against the “stepmotherly treatment” meted out by the Centre to Andhra Pradesh. As per the decision of the all-party meeting on Tuesday, they will continue to wear the black badges till April 6, Naidu said.

Drawing a leaf from Japanese culture, Naidu appealed to the people of the state to work one hour extra during the period of protest. “Everybody in the state should wear the black badge and work one hour extra,” he said.

The chief minister will also lead an all-party delegation to New Delhi on April 2 and 3 to meet the leaders of various political parties and mobilise their support to the cause of Andhra Pradesh.

Presentation

Making a power-point presentation in the state assembly yesterday on the promises the Centre had made at the time of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Naidu said that the Centre had miserably failed to fulfil the promises landing the state in serious problems.

“One national party (Congress) threw the state on the roads and another (BJP) betrayed the people of the state,” he told the assembly.

The power-point presentation also included the video clippings of the speeches of Narendra Modi promising special category status to Andhra Pradesh during his election campaign in the state in 2014 elections in the state, provisions of Reorganisation Act passed by the Parliament and the promises made by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament at the time of the passage of the bill.