Former Congress MP from Vijayawada Lagadapati Rajagopal says that after making a commitment in Parliament, it will not be easy for the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre to get away with its promise on the grant of Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh.
“Once committed in Parliament, there’s no way the party can now escape. It is difficult to say at this point in which form it will happen. The need is to convince BJP’s top leadership that grant of SCS will politically benefit that party,” Mr. Rajagopal told The Hindu on Sunday.
He said that though the Congress was a national party, its presence in the State was negligible.
“Since the Congress doesn’t have MPs, it’s not possible to launch an all-India level agitation. The TDP and the YSR Congress MPs in the State must get united on the issue.”
He maintained that since according the SCS was possible only a national party, there was a need to create a feeling in the leaders at the helm of the BJP that the move would be politically beneficial to the party. He said that post-bifurcation, resources had not been distributed equally among the two States, necessitating SCS to AP.
“We need to increase our revenue, which is possible only through incentives, more jobs, and a robust industrial activity, and SCS is the tool that can bring all this for A.P.,” he said.
Reacting to the civic authorities removing former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s bronze statue in front of the police control room, he said it was “not a good culture.”
“I asked TDP leader and Union Minister Sujana Chowdary and a few others to talk to the Chief Minister and sort out the issue. If the need arises, I am ready to come and speak to Mr. Naidu about the issue,” he says.
Mr. Rajagopal had made an unceremonious exit from politics after the Telangana Bill was passed in Lok Sabha in February 2014.
Though he has been stoutly denying any plans to make a political comeback, rumours are rife that the former Congress MP may join either the TDP or BJP.
There is no way the BJP can escape as it had committed itself to the issue in Parliament
Lagadapati Rajagopal
Former Congress MP
