Jagan Reddy meets PM Modi, discusses special category status for AP
NEW DELHI : After a landslide victory in Andhra Pradesh, YSRC Chief and Chief Minister-designate Jagan Mohan Reddy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence in Delhi on Sunday, 26 May. Reddy also met BJP President Amit Shah.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Reddy said that the situation would have been different if the BJP would have got 250 seats.“We would have then supported BJP only after they signed the Special Category Status document. If the BJP would’ve been limited to 250 seats, we wouldn’t have had to depend so much on the central govt. But now, they don’t need us. We did what we could do and told him of our situation,” Reddy said.
During his election campaign, Reddy whose YSRC stormed to power on Thursday bagging 152 of the state’s 175 assembly seats and 22 of the state’s 25 Lok Sabhahad said that he would support the party at the national level which promises to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh
The special category status has been a contentious issue which led to the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) pulling out of the National Democratic Alliance(NDA) in March 2018. TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu had accused the BJP of reneging on a promise to confer special category status on the state . The BJP had cited the 14th Finance Commission’s report to say that Andhra Pradesh could not be granted special category status.
On Saturday morning, Reddy was unanimously elected YSRC legislature party leader at the party headquarters in Tadepalli in Amaravati. Later, he met Governor ESL Narasimhan in Hyderabad and hand over the resolution of the YSRC legislature party. The Governor congratulated him and formally invited him to form the new government.
According to party leaders, Reddy will be sworn in as Andhra CM at Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium in Vijayawada at 12.23 pm on May 30, as per the muhurtam fixed by the Visakha Sarada Peetham seer, Swamy Swaroopanandendra Swamy.
Reddy also went to Pragati Bhavan, the official residence of Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao, where he was accorded a grand welcome. Reddy invited KCR and leaders of Telangana Rashtra Samithi for his swearing-in ceremony. Earlier, Reddy told the legislature party meeting, “This is a historic win, which would be written in golden letters in the annals of the state… It has proved that God will not forgive those who indulged in…corruption,” he said, adding the YSRC should focus on living up to the faith reposed by the people. (With Agency Inputs ).
