Not with standing the categorical assertion from the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership at the Centre that there is no question of granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress party chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy does not want to give up the fight for SCS.
According to party sources, Jagan wants to send a team of party leaders to visit the states which had been given special category status shortly.
The team would study the benefits these states have gained in the last few years on account of special status – the additional financial resources from the Centre, new industries that have come up on account of incentives given by the government and the exemption of GST in their states.
It is learnt Jagan wants to highlight these points in his speeches in the coming days of his padayatra and also during the election campaign.
“Under any circumstances, we are not going to give up the demand for SCS, which is the lifeline for the state. There is no compromise on that,” Jagan is learnt to have told his party colleagues.
“Jagan will settle for nothing short of Special Category Status which was completely diluted in the last four years,” YSRC spokesperson Perni Venkatramaiah (Nani) said.
“We shall keep the pot boiling by organising protests in various forms and across the state and also in the national capital,” he said.
Nani alleged that there were 19 issues pertaining to the State which were promised during bifurcation and many of them were broached by Chandrababu Naidu with the Centre during his four years.
