CM Urges Youth Not To End Lives Over Special Status

Making a statement in the Assembly on the second day on the issue of Special Status to Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said that it was unfortunate that some people were committing suicides thinking that the State would not get special status.

He urged the youth not to take any such hasty and tragic steps.

Naidu said, "We are facing problems since the people were not taken into confidence at the time of the bifurcation of the State. It was the first time in the history of the country that a State was divided under Article 3 of the Constitution."

During the recent meeting he had with the Prime Minister, the first agenda was special status to the State, he pointed out. The State government had also asked the Centre to help Andhra Pradesh until it reached the level of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

"We forged an alliance with the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre keeping in view the State's interests. We have already urged the Centre to give a special package and concessions to industries in the State," he said.

The Chief Minister informed the House that a Rs 5,000-crore loan had been sanctioned for the Vizag-Chennai corridor as a result of the State's efforts.

He added that his government had the capacity to complete the Polavaram project.

"We have to provide rehabilitation to 200 villages," he said.

Speaking on the Special Status issue, Leader of the Opposition Y S Jaganmohan Reddy said that if the Prime Minister decided, the State would get special status immediately.

"It took seven months to repeal the Planning Commission after Narendra Modi came to power. Had we pressed our demand before that, the State would have got special status," Jagan said.