Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will go on a day-long fast in New Delhi on February 13 on the last day of Parliament’s Budget session in protest against the Narendra Modi government for not granting his state special category status after bifurcation, the Hindustan Times reported on Saturday.
Telugu Desam Party’s Lok Sabha member Avanti Srinivas told the newspaper that Naidu shared his protest plans at a parliamentary party meeting at his residence in Amaravati. Naidu has directed party MPs to take on the National Democratic Alliance government for “cheating” the people of Andhra Pradesh.
The party quit the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance in March after the Centre refused to grant the state special category status. The Telugu Desam Party moved a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government, which the government won after a 12-hour debate.
The proposed protest is being seen as Naidu’s effort to unite Opposition parties against the BJP on a national level before the Lok Sabha elections.
Telugu Desam Party MPs are likely to present Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan’s report, which says the Centre is due to extend Rs 75,000 crore to the state as part of a commitment made during bifurcation. Naidu claimed that the Centre was expected to pay the state Rs 1.25 lakh crore after the bifurcation.
The Andhra Pradesh Pratyeka Hoda Sadhana Samithi has called a statewide bandh on February 1 to protest against the BJP government’s failure to grant special category status.
‘There is a 100% chance of EVMs being hacked’
Meanwhile, Naidu on Saturday said there was a 100% chance of electronic voting machines being vulernable to hackers, PTI reported. He asked the Election Commission to ensure Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail receipts are issued in every constituency or revert to the ballot-paper system.
“It’s easy to misuse technology,” he told parliamentarians from his party. “It is particularly easy for the one who writes the [software] programme.” Naidu said the poll panel should not enforce a system that is not trusted.
Naidu has reportedly asked TDP MPs to oppose the BJP government if it presents a full Budget on February 1 instead of a vote-on-account. “It’s wrong in a democracy for a government, which has a mandate [left] only for two months, to present a budget for the next 10 months as well,” said party leader Y Satyanarayana Chowdary.
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