Congress on Saturday sounded the bugle for an intense agitation demanding Special Category Sto the State and to bring pressure on the Centre to issue an executive order on conferment of the status.
Top leaders of the party, led by former Union Minister K. Chiranjeevi, Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Raghuveera Reddy, MP T. Subbarami Reddy and former PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana, participated in a day-long fast on the premises of Sri Venkateswara Vignana Mandiram.
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Party’s State SC Cell president K. Raju said Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi would visit the State in July and lead a mass movement in support of farmers.
The presence of a sizeable number of men and women at the meeting bolstered the morale of the party leaders who had taken the lead in launching an agitation for special status. The party has already collected 1 crore signatures as part of its campaign that began at Polavaram and has organised relay fasts at the district headquarters.
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Addressing the meeting, Mr. Chiranjeevi demanded that the Centre take an executive decision and confer the special status on the State which has been plagued by deficit budget.
“Parliamentary approval is not necessary for conferment of the special status. The Centre can give special status by a mere Cabinet approval and later get it approved by the National Development Council,’’ he said.
The former Union Minister said it was the Congress leaders such as J.D Seelam who had incorporated many provisions for direct Central assistance, including setting up of Central institutions like AIIMS, IIT and IIM in the State. He also faulted the TDP government in the State for acquiring vast tracts of multi-crop fields for construction of the capital.
PCC president N. Raghveera Reddy urged the Centre to allocate Rs.1.25 lakh crore to the State and warned that the Congress supporters would lay siege to the house of Prime Minister Narendra Modi if the Centre failed in its duty. He also criticised the government for paltry allocations to the backward districts in north coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.