Rise above politics and join our protest: YSRCP to TDP MPs

Two YSR Congress Party leaders sitting on an indefinite hunger strike for the fifth day in the national capital today urged Telugu Desam Party MPs to rise above politics and resign from the Lok Sabha to press for special category status (SCS) for Andhra Pradesh.

Former YSRCP MP P V Midhun Reddy said, "Our only request to TDP MPs is to keep politics aside and we shall fight for this together. All of them must resign and join our protest to make the NDA government accept our demand. This is a state issue and not a personal one," Reddy told reporters here.

"In Rajasthan, we have seen the government offering loan waivers after the BJP government lost in LS bypolls early this year. No government wants to lose bypolls when general elections are around the corner, so we believe they will give us SCS if we try this," Reddy said, anticipating that the BJP would lose if bypolls were held for the LS seats vacated by YSRCP MPs.

Out of five MPs who sat on the indefinite strike on April 6, three have been hospitalised and the remaining two - Midhun Reddy and Y S Avinash Reddy - are continuing with the agitation at the AP Bhavan here.