YSR Congress Party MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, 73, was rushed to the hospital after his health deteriorated on the second day of the indefinite hunger strike by the five Lok Sabha members who resigned on Friday.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Saturday visited Andhra Pradesh Bhavan to extend his support to the YSRCP leaders.
On Sunday, YSRCP honorary president Y.S. Viajyamma is scheduled to visit the protesters.
“On the day the Bill to bifurcate the State came to Parliament, I asked about sharing of electricity, water and government employees. But there was no answer. [Then] I asked why it was taken up without proper homework,” Mr. Yechury said.
Promises not kept
He said “nothing has happened”, despite then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh giving an assurance that a special status would be given to Andhra Pradesh for five years and then Rajya Sabha member M. Venkaiah Naidu promising to extend the status to 10 years if a BJP government came to power.
On the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) first allying and now moving away from the BJP, Mr. Yechury said: “We asked TDP why they were again getting into alliance with BJP after being out of power for 10 years in the united A.P. following the previous alliance.”
“They said, ‘BJP will be at the Centre and we will form government in State. Both will work for special status.’ Now we can see where we are standing after four years of alliance,” the CPI(M) leader said.
TDP move
The TDP is planning to meet President Ram Nath Kovind to submit a memorandum on how despite their attempt on 13 consecutive days, a no-confidence motion could not be taken up in the Lok Sabha.
The two Andhra Pradesh parties have been locked in competitive politics to grab eyeballs.
After Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s successful visit to the capital, the TDP parliamentarians went into a huddle on Saturday, to devise a strategy for the coming days. For now, the TDP MPs said their efforts would be concentrated in Andhra Pradesh where each MP will reach out to his or her constituency.
