Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu began a day-long hunger strike in New Delhi on Monday morning demanding special status for the state.
The day-long protest started at the Andhra Pradesh Bhawan around 8 am, after paying respects at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial in Rajghat. Congress president Rahul Gandhi and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah were among those present at the protest. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee extended her support to Naidu. Trinamool Congress MP, Derek O’Brien is scheduled to visit Naidu for solidarity and support.
Lawmakers, MPs of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), members of state employees associations, students organisations are among others joining the fast.
The Andhra Pradesh CM will also submit a memorandum before President Ram Nath Kovind.
He has been demanding the special status, urging the Centre to keep its promise made when Telengana was formed out of Andhra Pradesh. Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) last year over the alleged “injustice” of the Centre on not fulfilling its promise. The “special status” for Andhra Pradesh would bring in more funds for the state.
Naidu started the dharna saying that the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said that Raj dharma (the responsibility and commitment of a state) had not been followed in Gujarat (during the 2002 riots) and now the same Raj dharma was not being followed in the case of the Andra Pradesh’s special status promise. He also said he knew how to get it done.
However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the Andhra CM was lying and that the Centre had gone “beyond offering special status to Andhra Pradesh”, but Naidu could not develop the state. Congress president Rahul Gandhi however, said that the PM lied wherever he went — whether it was in the Northeast or in Andhra Pradesh.
[Cover photograph showing Banerjee welcoming Naidu in Kolkata for the January rally of Opposition parties]
