Andhra Pradesh: CM Naidu reached state assembly in Black shirt to mark 'black day'

Intensifying the state's protest for special status, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister on Friday reached the state assembly in black shirt to mark the "black day" to protest against BJP-led government for "it's betrayal to the state."

It comes on the day when Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal presented the Interim Budget in Parliament.

During the teleconference with TDP leaders and public representatives on February 1, Naidu condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attitude for not giving special status to Andhra Pradesh. Naidu said his government is planning to make an appeal to President Ram Nath Kovind.

Naidu said, "Protests against the central government will be held from February 1 to 10 at the state level. Along with that "dharma poratam" will be held in Delhi from February 11 to 14 February."

Meanwhile, the Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samiti has called for one-day state bandh today.

The TDP government has been agitating since last year against the Centre for non-implementation of Special Category Status in the state, despite promising in 2014 when it was bifurcated into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

On the first day of the Budget Session, on January 31, scores of TDP leaders protested in Parliament premises by holding yellow placards and flags displaying their various demands, which include financial assistance to the state capital, Amravati. Yellow is the colour of the party flag.

The demand to bring Andhra Pradesh under the Special Category gained momentum after the region split into two states. Telangana, which is India's youngest state, was carved out of Andhra in 2014. Andhra Pradesh's capital Hyderabad, also a rising IT hub with the majority of jobs, was also shifted to Telangana.

At present, as many as 11 states--Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Mizoram--have been granted financial aid under this category as a majority of these regions have hilly-terrain and have a considerable tribal population.

The responsibility of allocating the funds to special and general category states which are based on Madhav Gadgil-Pranab Mukherjee (1969) formula is on the shoulders of the Central government.