A.P. special package: TDP plans to step up protests

The party is also toying with the possibility of its two Ministers and 16 Lok Sabha members resigning.

Srinivas Kesineni.

With no concrete assurances on Andhra Pradesh in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s concluding speech on Union Budget in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, the Telugu Desam Party plans to step up protests outside Parliament and is also toying with the possibility of its two Ministers and 16 Lok Sabha members resigning.

“We expected to get clarity on the government’s stand on our 19 demands. He [Mr. Jaitley] spoke briefly and vaguely on Andhra Pradesh, repeating the same lines. We will take a call on our next step when our Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu returns from Dubai,” Vijaywada MP Srinivas Kesineni told The Hindu . Mr. Naidu, who is in Dubai meeting global corporate firms ahead of the Investment Summit in Vishakhapatnam from February 24 to 26, kept tabs on proceedings in Parliament in Delhi.

“If things come to a head, the two TDP Ministers and all Lok Sabha MPs will resign. We will go back to the Andhra voters and seek a re-election, campaigning against the BJP’s backstabbing,” a TDP MP said.

Piecemeal package

There was speculation that the Finance Minister may announce a piecemeal package for Andhra Pradesh.

The TDP has 19 demands which include special category status, bridging of the resource gap, Polavaram project, formation of a separate railway zone, increasing of seats in Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and financial assistance to Amravati.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar appealed to the protesting TDP and YSR Congress Party MPs to permit the House to function, saying the government was sensitive to their concerns and that the Finance Minister would address them.

“The wound is very deep. We should respect members, not numbers. We cannot partly have cooperative federal system. In this Bill, there are pending issues namely, special category status, resource gap in the first year, Polavaram project, among other issues,” TDP Minister Y.S. Chowdary said.

“If within 15 days, the Finance Minister can assure us that he will resolve all these issues… I would like to request my colleagues to see that this House runs.”

(With PTI inputs)