TDP Calls PM A Cheat, Jaitley A Liar; BJP Protests

During his 70-minute written speech initiating the debate in the Lok Sabha on the no-confidence motion moved by his party against the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre on the issue of Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh, TDP member Jayadev Galla launched a virulent attack on both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accusing them of leaving Andhra Pradesh in the lurch by failing to fulfil the various promises made in the A P Reorganization Act of 2014.

After taking potshots at the Congress for bifurcating the undivided AP in an "undemocratic, unscientific and irrational manner", he accused both the Congress and the BJP of leaving the new state of AP crippled.

The TDP member got personal accusing the Prime Minister of being deceitful and betraying the people of Andhra Pradesh. He even implied that the PM was a "cheat", and accused the Finance Minister of repeatedly "lying" regarding the financial allocations made to the state in the union budgets so far.

The central government had released only Rs. 1,300 crores while the demand was over Rs. 1 lakh crores, he said. How then could the finance minister claim that adequate funds were released to the state, he asked.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took strong objection against the TDP member calling the Prime Minister a cheat. She demanded that the Speaker expunge the comments, and Sumitra Mahajan responded saying that she would go through the records and take a decision.