Now, AP CM Chandrababu Naidu to hold day-long fast
After disruption of Parliament didn't work, political parties are resorting to another form of protest: fasting. The latest to join this bandwagon after Congress and BJP is TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu. He recently announced that he would sit on a day-long hunger strike on April 20. This fast is to protest against the Centre over the Special Category Status (SCS) demand for Andhra Pradesh.
What is a special category status?
To begin with, SCS isn't a constitutional provision. However, since some areas are historically disadvantaged as compared to others, the Centre assists these states with funds. These were allocated by the now-disbanded National Development Council. The Central government allocates 30% of expenditure to these handful states. For centrally-sponsored schemes, they get 90% funds as grant and 10% as loan. General-category states get 30% grant and 70% loan.
Why did this fast become necessary?
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. Subsequently, two TDP Union ministers quit the government and the party walked out of the ruling NDA, alleging failure. Since then, Andhra CM Naidu has been extremely critical about PM Modi.
Earlier, Naidu slammed the PM's fast
On Thursday, PM Modi and BJP MPs observed a day-long fast to protest the washout of the Parliament session. Hitting out at the PM's fast, Naidu sought to know who PM Modi was trying to dupe by observing a protest "deeksha." He asked, "Are there any instances in history where a Prime Minister observed deeksha? Is it not your incompetence?"
