Special Status Only If Babu Splits From BJP: VHR

Congress senior leader and Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao stated that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu needed to withdraw his support to the Narendra Modi government if he really wanted Special Status for his State.

Speaking to the media at Gandhi Bhavan on Sunday, VHR said that nothing would materialize if Naidu kept addressing letters to Modi. He pointed out that even AICC Chief Sonia Gandhi, who had originally proposed Special Status to Andhra Pradesh during the bifurcation of the State, had addressed a letter to the Prime Minister seeking Special Status for the State, but hadn't seen any outcome.

VHR opined that Andhra Pradesh would get special status easily and quickly only if Naidu withdrew his support to the Modi government.

He also asked Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, who spoke a lot on Special Status for Andhra Pradesh during the bifurcation, why he was keeping mum now.

Referring to Jana Sena Chief Pawan Kalyan's tweet that the BJP would meet the Congress' fate in case it failed to provide Special Status to Andhra Pradesh, VHR suggested that Pawan Kalyan speak only after knowing what the Congress did for the sake of Special Status to Andhra Pradesh. He said that Pawan Kalyan would become a "loose character" politically in case he spoke as he wished.

Ridiculing YSR Congress Party chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's statement that the Palamuru and Dindi projects were illegal, VHR asked Jagan whether the latter forgot his father late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy had constructed the Pothireddypaadu project, which was illegal, and did injustice to Telangana. He alleged that YSR mentally and politically harassed late P Janardhan Reddy (PJR), who fought against the Pothireddypaadu project.