Congress seeks to unite Opposition to fight on AP special status
andhrapradesh | Written by : Suryaa Desk
Accusing the BJP government of going back on its promise of granting special status to Andhra Pradesh, the Congress is seeking to unite various parties on the issue who are also likely to attend Rahul Gandhi's rally in Guntur on Sunday.According to sources, Gandhi has talked to various opposition leaders who are to attend the birthday celebrations of DMK patriarch Karunanidhi tomorrow, and has reportedly asked them to join him in his public rally on June 4.
They said some opposition leaders like Sharad Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Sitaram Yechuri, D Raja have agreed to participate in the rally.The Congress said the people of the southern state feel cheated by Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu for aligning with the BJP and failed to exert pressure on the prime minister for persuading him for a special package to Andhra Pradesh.
The party leaders from the state say YSRC chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, who got nearly 65 assembly seats and many Parliamentary seats, have also forgotten his resolve to get the state the special package.On the other hand, the Congress party has no assembly member or Parliamentary representative in Andhra Pradesh, yet Gandhi remembered the promise made by the Congress government and its leadership to the people of Andhra Pradesh, they said.
Gandhi had recently told party representatives that it did not matter if people did not vote for his party, but the Congress would rally all opposition parties and ask them to take up the cause of people of the state.The Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Commission had provisioned for "special package to be given to the state for five years, which included financial assistance, plus IT exemptions to industries so that newer investments generate jobs."
The Congress is also likely to raise the pitch against BJP leaders and now Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu, who had said in the Rajya Sabha (during the UPA rule) that the special package for the state should not be limited to only 5 years, but extended to 10 years.