: Ruling out severing ties with the BJP, Agriculture Minister Prathipati Pulla Rao on Saturday expressed confidence that the TDP, through persuasion, would get all assistance from the Centre to the State to overcome the bifurcation blues.
Ahead of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week, Mr. Pulla Rao told a press conference here that the State would be the worst sufferer if the party decided to part ways with the BJP. In that event, the only beneficiary would be “power- crazy” YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy who, he alleged, was working against the State’s interests without any positive agenda.
Welcoming BJP national secretary and its State party affairs in-charge Sidarth Nath Singh terming AP a “special State,” he said the BJP, which had promised Special Category Status for 10 years instead of 5 years announced by the UPA government, should live up to the expectations of the people.
“We will have no objection if the Centre chooses to give more benefits than the ones that will accrue in the event of granting SCS to the State,” he added.
“We very well know that there is nothing special in the tag by itself. The State needs more assistance than mere SCS for a level-playing field with other States,” he explained.
Such a scenario will only benefit ‘power-crazy’ Jagan, says Prathipati
