After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, it was the turn of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to rally the Opposition parties against the ruling BJP in the Capital for a day-long fast demanding special status for his State on Monday.

Kejriwal criticises PM

From Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “behaves like the Prime Minister of Pakistan when he deals with chief ministers from Opposition parties”, to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Congress President Rahul Gandhi, a host of Opposition leaders, including National Congress (NC) chairperson Farooq Abdullah, Nationalist Congress Party’s Majeed Memon, Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’ Brien, DMK’s Tiruchi Siva and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav gathered in front of Andhra Bhawan in the Capital to lend support to Naidu.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now world famous for lying. He has consistently lied, even in front of Tirupati Balaji, about giving special status to Andhra Pradesh… He treats chief ministers from other political parties like he is the Prime Minister of Pakistan. I salute Mamata di (Mamata Banerjee) for resisting the PM’s assault on federalism. He sent the CBI after Kolkata police chief like he had sent the paramilitary forces for Delhi’s anti-corruption branch. I want to tell him that he is not the PM of the BJP. He is the PM of India,” said Kejriwal.

Former PM Manmohan Singh said the demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh had the support of all parties when it was discussed in Parliament. “I stand in solidarity with Naidu. Special category status promise must be implemented without any further delay,” said the former PM.

‘Unkept promise’

The AP CM and Telugu Desam Party President demanded that the Centre fulfil promises made during the State’s bifurcation in 2014, and alleged that Modi was not following ‘raj dharma’ by denying  special status. Naidu’s ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’ (a day-long protest for justice), which began at 8, ended in the evening and he is likely to submit a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind on February 12. Naidu paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat and also to the Ambedkar Statue at the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan before sitting on the hunger strike.

The Congress President raised the issue of alleged corruption in the Rafale jet fighter deal when he spoke at the  protest venue. “The Prime Minister has stolen from the people of  Andhra Pradesh and he has given that money to Anil Ambani. That is the fact of the matter,” Gandhi said.

TMC’s Derek O’Brien recalled Modi’s speech in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, on Sunday and said he didn’t talk about development or special category status but “started a personal attack”. “Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others,” he said. The PM said in his rally that Naidu was indeed a senior, but only in losing elections, switching alliances and ditching his father-in-law NT Rama Rao.

Lashing out at the PM, NC’s Farooq Abdullah said, “Modi has stooped so low that he’s making personal attacks against Naidu, who is doing a great service to the country.”

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