PM Modi holds talks with Chandrababu amid rising tensions between BJP, TDP

With the increasing hostilities between the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and BJP over special category status to the state, two BJP ministers pulled out of the Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday.

Key Developments:

• As per ANI report, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday spoke to AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu amid rising political tension between the two parties over the grant of special status to the state.
• The two TDP ministers in the Union Cabinet - YS Sujana Chowdary and Ashok Gajapati Raju will meet PM Modi at 6 pm today to submit their resignations as directed by the AP Chief Minister.
• Earlier on Thursday, BJP ministers in the AP government, Dr Kamineni Srinivas and Pydikondala Manikyala Rao, resigned from the state cabinet.
• Speaking in the state Assembly on Thursday, Chandrababu said that their ministers in the central cabinet and BJP ministers in their cabinet have resigned. He thanked the Ministers for their services and for bringing considerable reforms in their departments.
• Chandrababu also accused the Centre of focusing more on northeastern states and ignoring Andhra Pradesh, further demanding to know the reason for the discrimination.
• Union Minister of science and technology YS Chowdary and Civil aviation minister P Ashok Gajapati Raju, both belonging to TDP will be submitting their resignations following BJP’s ‘betrayal’ to AP.
• Speaking in this regard, Ashok Gajapati Raju said that when the state of AP was formed, some assurances were made and UPA government made some commitments which need to be fulfilled.
• On Wednesday, Chandrababu announced the decision to pull out two TDP ministers, civil aviation minister P Ashok Gajapati Raju and Union minister of science and technology Sujana Chowdary, from the Union cabinet as a last resort as their efforts to get special category status failed.
• This move was made in the wake of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the Centre could not accommodate TDP's demands for special category status or tax relief for AP.
• Jaitley stated that assistance equivalent to Special Category status could be given but the designation itself could not be conferred as it has ceased to exist after the implementation of the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission.

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