AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh's Telugu Desam (TDP) has formally pulled out of the central government following a conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu that failed to stop the break up of the allies. The development came after Naidu announced that his party would withdraw its ministers as the Centre had failed to grant AP special category status.
“Public anger over the neglect of AP's interests has left me with no option,” a close aide quoted Naidu telling Modi. Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said, “In coming days we will take appropriate decision at appropriate time.” The statement came a day after TDP's P Ashok Gajapathi Raju (Civil Aviation) and YS Chowdary (Science and Technology) submitted their resignations. “The party took a decision that we should resign. We have resigned now. It was a matter of courtesy that we met the Prime Minister and presented our resignation,” they said.
In response, the BJP has also pulled out two of its ministers from the Naidu government Andhra. Party leaders rejected the “betrayal” charge as “baseless and unfortunate”. They argued that the Modi government had moved to deliver a significant part of the assistance promised when Telangana was created. “The assistance was to be over 10 years. Most of it has been delivered in four years,” said BJP state unit chief Hari Babu.
Modi reportedly sought a dialogue with the state's leadership and Naidu. However, the CM indicated that the TDP's patience had run out after four years of waiting. While Modi said the issue “could have been resolved” had both the leaders “sat and discussed it”, Naidu reportedly said his party and the state had “waited patiently for out after four years”. He also added, “Ultimately we had to take the decision.” Naidu said the decision to pull out was taken “in deference to the people's sentiment”.
