Jagan urges TDP to pull out of NDA government

YSR Congress Party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday urged the TDP to pull out of the central government, saying the latter was not doing justice to Andhra Pradesh.

Speaking in the assembly, he also asked the Telugu Desam Party to dismiss BJP ministers from the coalition government in the state.

The leader of the opposition wondered why the TDP was continuing in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government despite the latter not granting special category status to the state and fulfilling other commitments made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

The debate on the motion of thanks to the governor for his address was marred by sharp exchanges between the ruling and opposition parties.

Jagan, as the YSRCP chief is popularly known, targeted the TDP for continuing in the central cabinet despite complaining of injustice to the state.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, however, clarified that his party was mounting pressure on the Narendra Modi government to protect the state's interests.

The TDP chief said it was for the national and state's interests that the TDP entered into an alliance with the BJP before the elections.

He clarified that the central government had given special package to seven districts of Rayalaseema and north Andhra.

Naidu said the previous UPA government did not include the commitment of special category status in the act.

He said the Modi government had also promised to make Visakhapatnam a separate railway zone, provide funds for development of a new state capital and bridge the revenue deficit.