Modi had promised special category status to AP: Naidu

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has asserted that special category status (SCS) was the right of the state as he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of going back on the assurance made at an election meeting here in 2014 to accord the same.

He also accused the BJP and YSR Congress of joining hands and hatching political conspiracies against him and the TDP.

Addressing a huge rally of the ruling TDP, christened "Dharma Poraatam" (fight for justice) here yesterday, he said Modi as the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate had publicly made promises, including granting of SCS, at the meeting four years ago.

At the rally, a video clip was played purportedly showing Modi making the assurance on SCS in his speech delivered in Hindi and translated into Telugu by then-senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, now the Vice-President.

The chief minister said at the election campaign meeting in this "most sacred" city of Tirupati that Modi had promised to offer SCS, a beautiful capital city and other infrastructure to Andhra if the NDA was voted to power.

He demanded that the prime minister clarify whether or not he made the promise.

The rally was organised to remind Modi of his promise and to register the voice of Andhra Pradesh against the rejection of SCS, Naidu, who recently snapped ties with the BJP-led NDA, said.

He also said it was to highlight "political conspiracies being hatched" against the ruling TDP.

"Special category status is the right of residual Andhra Pradesh as it was Constitutionally offered when the state was bifurcated," he said.

"I have visited New Delhi 29 times to convince the Modi- led NDA regime for the grant of SCS but to no avail," the chief minister said asserting that he would continue his fight till justice was done to the state.

Before the 2014 elections, the Congress had betrayed Andhra Pradesh by splitting the state in "lawless manner" and left the residual part to its own fate without a capital city, Naidu said.

Despite several challenges encountered by it, the TDP government had developed Andhra Pradesh in all sectors in a big way, Naidu added.