All MPs of the YSR Congress party will resign on the last day of Parliament’s Budget Session if it ends without any announcement on the demand to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh, the party said on Monday. The party urged MPs of the Telugu Desam Party to do the same. The YSR Congress MPs said they would resign even if the Parliament is adjourned sine die before its scheduled last date of April 6
The two parties’ demand for a special category status for Andhra Pradesh disrupted proceedings in the second half of the Budget Session so far.
After meeting YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the party MPs said they would “resign from both Houses of Parliament the minute they have been prorogued”. They also said they had submitted several notices unsuccessfully to the Lok Sabha speaker to move a no-confidence motion against the government, and would continue to do so until a discussion takes place.
They said they would resign even if the Parliament is adjourned sine die before the scheduled last date of April 6. The YSR Congress has five members in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha.
In a statement to reporters, the party asked Telugu Desam Party MPs to resign as well, so that “Andhra Pradesh would become the point of discussion all over the country”.
The two parties had moved separate notices on March 16 for a no-confidence motion against the government after it refused the demand to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh. The Telugu Desam Party also broke away from the National Democratic Alliance and two of its members resigned from the Union Cabinet.
Neither motion has been taken up yet for discussion with the Lok Sabha being repeatedly adjourned amid protests by Opposition parties. Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned again on Friday. The Lok Sabha will now reconvene only on Tuesday – it did not sit on Monday on account of Ram Navami.
The Congress moved a notice for a no-trust motion on Friday, and so did the Community Party of India (Marxist) on Monday, PTI reported.
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