The Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have forgotten that it was part of passing the A.P. Bifurcation Act in Parliament and had celebrated it with its late leader Sushma Swaraj and the then party MP M. Venkaiah Naidu, even demanding 10 years of Special Category Status (SCS) for the residual State, said Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Sake Sailajanath.
The entire speech looked targeted at Telangana and the politics there, but Mr. Modi should remember that Mr. Venkaiah Naidu had even published a book taking credit for the entire process. “What happened to Mr. Modi’s pre-poll promise at Tirupati meeting of giving SCS and building a Delhi-like Capital,” Dr. Sailajanath questioned.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy must speak about it and strongly pitch for SCS and financial package and the Congress will support him in Parliament, the APCC chief said.
The Congress leader opined that Modi should have talked about what had his government done to support the Polavaram Project, formation of Vizag Railway Zone or SCS.
‘BJP also at fault’
Telugu Desam Party national spokesperson K. Pattabhiram has said that his party will not differ with what the Prime Minister said about the Congress role in the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
“The Congress itself later admitted to the fact that the division was not done in a scientific way,” he said, adding that the BJP was also at fault for not implementing the SCS promised to A.P..
‘Congress, BJP should share the blame’
Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretariat member Ch. Babu Rao said both A.P. and Telangana had suffered due to the division and that the Congress and the BJP should share equal blame.
“If the Congress did injustice to A.P. by executing the bifurcation in a hurried manner, the BJP caused bigger loss by not implementing any of the promises made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Mr. Modi need not shed crocodile tears for A.P. now,” he said.
‘BJP first to adopt Telangana resolution’
The Bharatiya Janata Party played a major role in the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and the formation of Telangana, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is playing opportunistic politics targeting the Congress, said Communist Party of India State secretary K. Ramakrishna.
“It was the BJP, which first adopted the Telangana resolution at Kakinada in 1996 and the Congress was the last political party to agree for the bifurcation as all other parties were for it except for the CPI and the BJP celebrated it in Mahboobnagar by inviting its leader Sushma Swaraj to a public meeting to honour her for getting Telangana,” Communist Party of India (CPI) State secretary K. Ramakrishna said.
