YSR Congress MPs resign from Lok Sabha

All the five Lok Sabha MPs of the YSR Congress tendered their resignations to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Friday -- the last day of Budget session -- to protest against their unfulfilled demand of Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.

They are also enraged at the Speaker not taking up the no-confidence motion moved by the party against the Narendra Modi government.

The five MPs -- Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, Y.V. Subba Reddy, Vara Prasadarao Velagapalli, Midhun Reddy and Y.S. Avinash Reddy -- had announced their decision to resign on Thursday itself.

The MPs would now proceed on an indefinite fast at the Andhra Bhawan in the national capital till their demand is met.

YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy also dared the rival Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to follow the suit.

"We do as we say! YSRCP MPs are submitting their resignations today (Friday). I challenge Chandrababu Naidu to make TDP MPs resign and stand united with the people of Andhra Pradesh in their rightful demand of special status for Andhra Pradesh," Jaganmohan Reddy tweeted.

The YSR Congress, as well the TDP, staged noisy protests inside both Houses of Parliament over the demand of special status to Andhra Pradesh ever since the second-half of the Budget session had commenced on March 5.

While the TDP quit the ruling coalition -- the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) -- over the issue, the YSR Congress gave notice for the no-confidence motion against the Modi government.

However, the Speaker did not take up the motion even as other opposition parties also gave no-confidence notices, saying the motion could not be taken up when the House was not in order.

"On one pretext or the other, the Speaker is not admitting our no-confidence notices and has been denying us a discussion on the motion. We have given at least 12 notices. If the motion is not taken up again on Friday, we will have no choice but to resign," Vara Prasadarao Velagapalli of the party had said on Thursday.

Bowing to a long-pending demand by a section of the state's population, the central government had in 2014 bifurcated the state to carve out Telangana and residuary state of Andhra Pradesh by getting the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act passed in Parliament.

The Andhra parties say that Telangana, despite having less population, has walked away with the largest chunk of resources as it has got Hyderabad as its capital. Hence, they demand special status for Andhra Pradesh which entails special financial packages and other perks from the central government.

--IANS

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