State-wide Protest Programmes on Friday

In protest against the Prime Minister's indifference towards the special status for Andhra Pradesh, the Opposition YSR Congress Party has called for an intensified fight for achieving its demand.The party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Thursday called upon people of the state to join hands with him in the fight for special status. Jagan said the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had compromised on the special status demand to get out of the criminal charges he is facing in various issues such as cash-for-vote case in which his role was established beyond doubt.

"The Prime Minister not even mentioning the special status is nothing but an insult to five crore people of the state,"Jaganmohan Reddy said in a media release.

Jaganmohan Reddy said people of AP had big hopes on the PM that he would make an announcement at the Amaravati foundation laying ceremony. "But the prime minister conveniently ignored the special status, nor did Chandrababu Naidu remind him of the issue," he said and charged the CM of deliberately avoiding the issue only to save his skin. He said the PM only brought some soil from the parliament premises and water from the river Yamuna which flows alongside Delhi for the foundation of the new capital and spoke all sweet talk without any concrete assurance," the Opposition leader said. He lashed out at Chandrababu Naidu for avoiding the mention of special status.

Demanding special status for AP, the YSRCP has been conducting series of protests and Jaganmohan Reddy had recently gone on an indefinite fast in Guntur which was foiled by the government on seventh day as his health condition deteriorated seriously. In the wake of Prime Minister's indifference on special status, Jaganmohan Reddy called upon people of the state to continue the struggle until the demand is achieved. The YSRCP believes that the people of AP would benefit in terms of jobs, industrial and economic growth only with a special status as the state suffered a setback after the bifurcation into AP and Telangana.