Chandrababu declares warpath for securing SCS

TDP supremo and Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu gave up hope on the Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh promised under the AP Reorganisation Act that divided the combined State into revenue-drained ramnant State. This is said to have been the conclusion reached after the leader of the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley's reply to the discussion on the Private Member Bill tabled by KVP Ramachandra Rao, demanding the promised SCS for AP by the previous Congress-led UPA government. Chandrababu consulted his close colleagues on Saturday morning in Vijayawada and expressed despair that the State government had so far only appealed to the BJP-led Centre to concede the constitutional status as promised by Parliament. But now the State going on a warpath was inevitable, an angry Chief Minsiter is said to have told his colleagues. In this connection, Chandrababu is said to have told his colleagues that because of the alliance with the BJP in the State, the TDP had lost as many as 15 seats in the elections. He pointed out that the BJP had secured less than 1% of the votes. He also said both the culprits behind the SCS, the Congress which proposed the status and the BJP which denied the status, had both secured less than 1% of the vote. Besides, both had done tremendous injustice to the State. Chandrababu also bemoaned that because of the alliance with the BJP, the TDP was alienated from the leftist parties in the State. Despite so much political alienation, the TDP had put up with the BJP in the hope that it would do justice to the State. At this rate, he warned that the BJP would meet with the same fate as it had faced in Tamil Nadu where it had not been able to secure a single seat in the assembly.