TDP’s big move to beat Jagan’s quitting deadline

Amaravati: Is Telugu Desam Party planning to outwit YSRC chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy by making its MPs resign much before Opposition leader’s April 6 deadline for his parliamentarians for a similar move? Or, will it withdraw its ministers first?

With Jagan announcing that his party MPs would resign after April 6 if the Centre does not declare special category status (SCS), the Telugu Desam Party is understood to be preparing the ground to pre-empt the YSRC by asking its MPs to resign and thus steal the thunder from Jagan’s resignation strategy.

Transport Minister K Atchannaidu, who is part of the Telugu Desam Party core committee, dropped subtle hints at the media conference to this effect on Wednesday after attending a meeting called by party supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu here.

“After March 5, when Parliament would reassemble for the Budget Session after the recess, there would be developments which one cannot visualise now,” Atchannaidu said cryptically.After Jagan’s announcement on the MPs’ resignation, the TDP took a combative position, launching a vituperative attack on the Opposition party.

The TDP core committee felt that it was the YSRC leader, at every opportunity, compromised state’s interest and tried to cozy up with the Centre in an attempt to get off of the CBI’s hook. Speaking to mediapersons, Ministers Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy (Agriculture), Kinjarapu Atchannaidu (Transport) and Nakka Anandbabu (Social Welfare) launched a fusillade against Jagan for his “opportunistic” politics.

They said that at a time when everyone decried the national budget for poor allocations for AP, it was Jagan who hailed it first which only shows that he wanted to be in the good books of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As regards Jagan’s announcement that his party MPs would resign after April 6, they said there was nothing new in this since he had set a similar deadline in the past but did not abide by it.

Chandramohan Reddy recalled how YSRC Rajya Sabha member V Vijaya Sai Reddy had tried to obstruct Union Minister of State Sujana Chowdary from turning the heat on the Centre on the issue of funds for the state. “For the last four years, neither Jagan nor his party MPs had ever fought for the special category status,” he said, adding: “Jagan and his party MPs met Union Minister Arun Jaitley so that he could walk out of the cases filed by the CBI and ED against him.

The ministers maintained that Jagan did not have any moral right to continue as the Leader of Opposition since he had never fought for the rights of the state. On the other hand, they said, the TDP has been consistently increasing pressure on the Central government demanding justice to the state. They reiterated that the TDP MPs’ protest would continue till the Centre concedes all the demands.

Atchannaidu said the announcement of YSRC MPs’ resignation was yet another drama which Jagan was trying to play out only to make a show that he was really concerned about the interests of the state. He recalled how Jagan tried to become the Chief Minister soon after his father YS Rajasekhar Reddy died in an air crash in 2009.

Ananda Babu said that when TDP MPs were protesting in Parliament demanding a fair deal for the state, the YSRC MPs came out of the House. It makes no difference whether they resign or not, he added.