Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu will observe a daylong hunger strike in the national capital on Monday over the Centre’s failure to deliver on special status to his State.
Nearly 500 people are expected to join him including Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislators and Members of Parliament, his Cabinet Ministers, and student groups among others.
He observed a similar daylong fast last year on his birthday on April 20 in Vijaywada. In 2013 too, ahead of the announcement of bifurcation, he sat on a five-day hunger strike in Delhi which ended after Delhi police forcibly admitted him to a hospital.
The TDP is expecting representatives from at least 20 Opposition parties to offer solidarity with the cause.
The 12-hour fast or Dharma Porata Deeksha is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. after Mr. Naidu pays a visit to Rajghat. On Tuesday, Mr. Naidu and a delegation of MPs, MLAs and Cabinet colleagues will present a memorandum on the issue to President Ramnath Kovind.
“Ignoring the micro details, he [Mr. Naidu] is now trying to build a macro level narrative and pitching it as a Centre vs State fight. The truth is that the TDP has failed to deliver on any of its promises. The fast is merely a bid to shift the focus from TDP’s own failures,” Mithun Reddy, former MP and YSR (Congress) leader said.
