Left to stage protests all over state today

Vijayawada: The Left parties will stage protests across the state on Friday against the Centre's attitude on the implementation of AP Reorganisation Act and sought the support of people for their protests.

In a joint press release, CPM state secretary P Madhu, CPI secretary K Ramakrishna, CPI (ML) new democracy Y Sambasiva Rao, MCPI Katam Nagabhushanam, CPI (ML) Bangaru Rao, Forward Block P V Sundararama Raju and Revolutionary Socialist Party Janaki Ramulu said the Central government was cheating Andhra Pradesh for the last four years.

They said that, now, the Centre had once again come out with its true colours by stating that it had already implemented all the assurances of bifurcation enactment in the affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court.

The Left leaders recalled that when the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced Special Category Status (SCS) in favour of state for five years, the BJP demanded it for ten years. They also recalled that the BJP had even promised extension of SCS for 10 years in their manifesto.

Now, the Central government led by BJP failed to fulfil its promise, they said and added the Comptroller and Auditor and General (CAG) had admitted that Rs 16,000 crore revenue deficit for state government but still the Centre mentioned that it was only Rs 4,117 crore in its report.

They said the people of Rayalaseema were also angry with the Centre for delaying the announcement on Kadapa steel factory. They appealed to people to support their protests to mount pressure on the Centre for the implementation of AP Reorganisation Act.