A day after the foundation ceremony for Andhra Pradesh’s new capital Amaravati, protests flared up across the State for Chandrababu Naidu Government’s alleged failure to secure any concrete pledge of financial assistance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Opposition parties also pilloried the Prime Minister for remaining silent on granting Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh.
Attending the ceremony at Uddandarayunipalem in Guntur district on Thursday, Mr. Narendra Modi endowed the Amaravati project with a symbolic sample of soil from Parliament and a pot of water from the Yamuna.
In his speech, he said the Centre would give to Andhra Pradesh everything specified in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, but stopped short of committing anything more, as was eagerly expected across the State.The speech triggered protests by opposition leaders across the State. Leader of the Opposition Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy turned the guns on Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and alleged that the latter secured a reprieve for himself in the cash-for-votes scam in return for not insisting that the Prime Minister deliver anything substantive for Andhra Pradesh. Mr. Jagan’s party floated black balloons in Vijayawada to protest the PM’s reluctance to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
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The CPI and CPM both stepped up their protests against the Union and State governments. In Kurnool district, CPI(M) functionaries burnt Mr. Modi’s effigy in front of the collector’s office district and raised slogans against the Chief Minister, accusing them of being indifferent to the popular demand for special category status for Rayalaseema. “Neither did Mr. Chandrababu Naidu make a formal request for a special package for Rayalaseema nor did Mr. Modi dwell on such issues in the ceremony,” CPI(M) State Committee leader T. Shadrak said.