YSR Congress MPs resign from LS over Andhra special status
Five YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MPs on Friday submitted their resignation letters to the Lok Sabha speaker. This was their way of protesting against Andhra Pradesh not being granted the special category status. The party also said that its leaders would go on a relay hunger strike across Andhra. On March 31, their chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced this move. Here's more.
Why did the YSR MPs resign?
The issue of Andhra not being given special status gained momentum ever since the Union Budget'18 was announced. TDP protested against its then-ally NDA for not giving AP enough funds. YSR Congress upped the ante claiming that CM Chandrababu Naidu had compromised Andhra's interests by not demanding a "special category status" for the state. Now, to signify YSR's total commitment, the MPs resigned.
Are they trying to corner TDP?
Another aspect to this is that TDP and YSR have been trying to outwit each other. After the resignation, Jagan challenged TDP MPs to "resign and stand united with the people of Andhra." YSR has also dismissed TDP's protests as "gimmick and antics." Earlier, YSR taunts led to Naidu pulling out his ministers and exiting NDA. Now, how will Naidu react?
What is YSR Congress's other contention?
YSR MPs Prasada Rao, Subba Reddy, Midhun Reddy, Avinash Reddy and Rajamohan Reddy flaunted their resignation letters which read, "I hereby tender my resignation of my seat in the house with immediate effect." They claimed that on some pretext or another, the LS Speaker Sumitra Mahajan didn't admit their no-confidence notice. Jagan has reportedly also written to all political parties seeking their support.
