The YSR Congress Party is going to stall the one-day session of the Assembly, convened to ratify the GST Bill on Tuesday, to register its protest against the Telugu Desam Party government’s failure to institute a ₹5,000-crore fund for stabilising the prices of agricultural produce, party president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference after the legislature party meeting here, Mr. Jagan said that the party was not against the introduction of the GST Bill as it would be beneficial for all.
The State government was keen on implementing GST to increase its income, but it was least bothered about farmers. The YSRC was going to stall the proceedings to teach a lesson to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu who was indifferent to the plight of farmers. Farmers were not getting remunerative prices and at the same time, people were also not benefiting because of the middlemen. While the YSRC promised to institute a fund of ₹3,000 crore for price stabilisation during electioneering, Mr. Naidu had said the TDP would create a fund of ₹5,000 crore on coming to power.
Meet with Modi
On his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Jagan said he was astonished the way Mr. Modi, who was such a big favourite of the TDP leaders, had suddenly become an “untouchable” just because he met him.
Mr. Jagan said the one hour he spent with the Prime Minister, 15 to 20 minutes was devoted to Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh. He said the Prime Minister asked him about the huge investments the State received at partnership summits. The YSRC leader said he told Mr. Modi about “the involvement of Nara Lokesh and TDP Ministers” in the AgriGold scam, confirmation of allegations of irregularities by the CAG and the scams in Capital lands.
Asked when the YSRC MPs would resign, Mr. Jagan said there would be nobody in Parliament to demand SCS if they resigned. He said party MP Y.V.Subba Reddy would soon be introducing a Bill on SCS in the Lok Sabha. He said resignations were like the ultimate weapon that should be utilised at the appropriate time.
