Chandrababu Naidu quits NDA government: BJP Ministers resign from Andhra Pradesh cabinet

Hyderabad, March 8: In the growing rift between the two parties, BJP Ministers Kamineni Srinivas and Pydikondala Manikyala Rao have tendered their resignations at the Chief Minister Office today after Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders quit the Modi Cabinet.

The TDP has decided to pull out of the NDA government at the Centre on the issue of special status to Andhra Pradesh. Union ministers from the TDP, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Minister of State for Science and Technology Y S Chowdary will submit their resignations today.

Andhra Chief Minister and the TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu made the announcement at an emergency press conference in Amravati last night saying that the decision was painful but was taken keeping the state’s interest in mind.

“This is the first step. We will go ahead with other actions later,” Naidu said in his presser, adding that he tried to speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “courtesy” to inform him about the decision to quit but he did not come on line.

“Arun Jaitley’s statement was the last straw. They are apparently predetermined. They don’t appear to help the state,” he said.

TDP’s announcement came hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the Centre was willing to provide the “monetary equivalent” of a special-category state to Andhra Pradesh, but would not be able to grant it “special status” which was restricted only to the north-eastern and three hill states by the 14th Finance Commission.

The Telagu Desam Party (TDP) has been agitating in both the houses of Parliament over the issue of financial aid to the state, which was promised at the time of its bifurcation in 2014.

Meanwhile, the BJP has rejected TDP’s charge that the Modi government neglected the state, saying the Centre not only fulfilled all its obligations but also had gone out of its way to help the state.