The stage is set for the Congress party’s show of strength with regard to its efforts to achieve the Special Category Status (SCS). Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and leaders of some important Opposition parties will address a meeting on the Andhra Muslim College campus in Guntur at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Congress Rajya Sabha Member K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao introduced a private member bill for amendment to the Andhra Pradesh Re-Organisation Act for inclusion of the Status during the Monsoon Session last year. All Opposition parties extended support to the bill but voting was not allowed on the ground that it was a ‘money bill’.
The Congress Party subsequently announced that the leaders would be invited for a meeting in the State to enable them to instil “confidence” in the people with regard to their commitment to achieving it. The meeting was given the name “Prathyeka Hoda Bharosa Sabha” (Special Category Status Assurance meeting.)
National president of the Samajwadi Party and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav is one of the main speakers of the meeting.
He will arrive from Lucknow in a special flight and proceed to the venue by road. Mr. Gandhi is also expected to arrive from Chennai in a special flight at 5.30 p.m. Important leaders and MPs Sharad Yadav JD (U), Sitaram Yechuri CPI(M), D Raja (CPI) and T.K.S. Elangovan (DMR) and CPI national general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy will address the meeting, according to a press release from Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee official spokesperson Kolanukonda Sivaji.
Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Raghuveera Reddy said in Guntur the Congress would take the lead in the fight to get the Status by mobilising national parties in the forthcoming Monsoon Session. The TDP-BJP governments should be ashamed of going back on their promise of granting the Status, he said.
‘Emotional issue’
Mr. Reddy told media that the SCS had not only become an emotional issue but also had been causing heartburn among the youth.
Former Speaker Nadendla Manohar said the TDP government had gone back on its promise of giving jobs. The employment generation had actually fallen to just 1.21 lakh jobs in 2016-2017 from 4.1 lakh jobs in 2014 and blamed the policies of Narendra Modi for job losses.
