Did not demand or command SCS, only requested PM: Jagan
■ ‘Numbers don’t matter, have to be at somebody’s mercy’
With the NDA sweeping the Lok Sabha elections, AP Chief Minister-designate Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that his party could only request Prime Minister Narendra Modi and not demand or command Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh, during their meeting here on Sunday.
Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy said he had requested Mr Modi to be “magnanimous” towards the people of Andhra Pradesh. Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy had an hour-long one-on-one interaction with the PM.
He also met BJP president Amit Shah and sought his support on the issue. The YSRC president invited both of them to his swearing-in ceremony at Vijayawada on May 30.
“Today, we might not get it (Special Category Status). We have to be at somebody’s mercy but I will remind him (Mr Modi) again and again and someday things will change,”
He told reporters after meeting the PM at his 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence. It would have been a “wonderful moment” for the YSRC had the NDA won only 250 seats but it got 353 seats, he said. “So, they don’t need us (to form government), they are strong.”
“There is very little we can do in demanding and commanding. But yes, we did meet the Prime Minister and explained to him why Special Category Status is so important for us,” YSRC chief said.
Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, who knows pretty well that cordial relations with the Centre is the need of the hour to turn around the financially-stricken state, put forth a charter of demands before Mr Modi.
The bonhomie between the two was evident with Mr Modi enveloping Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy in his trademark bear hug and patting him for the landslide victory. Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy’s meetings with Mr Modi and Mr Shah on Sunday, even before he takes oath, assumes significance in the backdrop of outgoing CM N. Chandrababu Naidu failing to secure special status and falling out with the NDA last year.
With the NDA sweeping the Lok Sabha elections, AP Chief Minister-designate Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that his party could only request Prime Minister Narendra Modi and not demand or command Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh, during their meeting here on Sunday.
Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy explained to the PM that the Special Category Status (SCS) was a “lifeline” for the debt-ridden state. “The PM's support is needed to run the state efficiently,” he told mediapersons.
“Today, the state's debt burden is very high. The debt was at `97,000 crore when the state was bifurcated. In the last five years, our debt has swelled to `2.58 lakh crore. Our interest repayments alone are at `20,000 crore per annum,” he said. The state's principal and interest put together amount to `40,000 per annum.
“This is the kind of situation we are in. We did explain to him that this being the situation, we need a lifeline from you,” he said, adding that the special status is the state’s “right” and he stops fighting for it no one else would take interest in it.
Mr Reddy said he was happy that the Prime Minister gave him a patient hearing.
“He listened to the whole thing and was positive. That’s a good sign. From here, we are hoping that things would come out positively in a better shape,” he said, adding he would continue to press his demands with Mr Modi on the issue of the special category status.
“Every time I meet him, I will definitely make it a point to remind him of the issue. I will remind him this was the word given on the floor of Parliament,” Mr Reddy said.
Mr Reddy also said that he met the BJP President, “the second-most powerful person in the country,” to seek his support for the state’s key demands.
The YSRC chief said he invited the PM and the BJP chief to his swearingin on May 30 in Vijayawada.