Taking the issue of defections to the national capital, Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that he brought the issue to the notice of Prime Minister and opined that it is not fair to field a candidate for the top post of President.
Speaking to reporters after meeting the Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Wednesday he said, ‘we have complained to the Prime Minister about the luring of YSR Congress MLAs by TDP and sought disqualification of the defectors.
While defections are against the democratic spirit, accommodating some of them into the AP cabinet is far worse and this was stressed during the meeting with the Prime Minister.
We had taken up the same issue with the President and leaders of political parties and this visit is part of Save Democracy campaign, he said.
‘We have also sought a CBI inquiry into the Agri Gold scam in which TDP leaders and ministers, including Nara Lokesh, are said to be involved.
Though the move of the Centre of giving Rs 5,000 per quintal to chilli farmers is welcome, it would be fair if the State also adds Rs 3,000 as its share and pay a total of Rs 8,000 to farmers,’ he told the Prime Minister adding that as Chandrababu Naidu did not give the amount the Centre should bear the additional sum.
‘We have also asked the Prime Minister to reconsider the issue Special Category Status (SCS) as promised during the State division and we will continue our fight on the issue. We cannot ignore the SCS as AP cannot compete with other states unless the status is accorded,’ the Prime Minister was told by the Leader of Opposition.
SCS was also taken up by BJP and was included in its election manifesto and it was mentioned in the Tirupati meeting during electioneering and should be honoured even if Chandrababu Naidu does not raise the issue.
We will try to mount pressure on the Prime Minister as he is the only person who can accord SCS to the state and reiterated that YSR Congress has always been straight forward while TDP line of thinking was crooked. The state should at least now set up Market Stabilisation Fund to check the fluctuations, he said.
