Live Updates: TDP ministers have quit NDA govt, Naidu tells Andhra assembly

NEW DELHI: In a major jolt to the NDA, Andhra Pradesh's ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has decided to quit the alliance in protest against the refusal of the Centre to grant Special Category Status to the state. TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu called an emergency press briefing on Wednesday night and briefed the media about his party's decision. Naidu said the TDP took the painful decision in the interest of the state as it was left with no other option. On Thursday, Naidu told the state assembly that the two TDP ministers -- P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju (Civil Aviation) and Y.S. Chowdary (Minister of State for Science and Technology) -- have quit the Modi Cabinet. "When the intended purpose (of joining the Union Cabinet) has not been served, there is no point in continuing. For me the sole agenda is to safeguard the interests of the state, the chief minister had told the media on Wednesday. ANDHRA PRADESH SPECIAL STATUS ROW LIVE UPDATES

• What Arun Jaitley said yesterday was not good. You are holding the hand of the North Eastern states but not Andhra Pradesh's. You are giving industrial incentives to them, not to Andhra Pradesh. Why this discrimination?: Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu in the state assembly
• Our ministers in the central cabinet and BJP ministers in our cabinet have resigned. However, these ministers worked good in the state. They brought considerable reforms in their departments. I thank them for their services: Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu in the state assembly

 

Delhi: TDP MPs protest inside Parliament premises over special category status to Andhra Pradesh pic.twitter.com/tKNTOyPq9f

— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2018

#AndhraPradesh : BJP Ministers in Andhra Pradesh cabinet submitted their resignation in the CM office in Amaravati. pic.twitter.com/0P33Y4S5Uu

— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2018

• Whenever you seek time from PM Modi and BJP President Amit Shah they meet. If all states demand special status it would become very difficult for the government: Union Minister Ramdas Athawale
• It is not good that TDP has decided to break away from with NDA. Want to appeal to AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu that he must think about this decision once again for development of people of AP they should stay with NDA: Union Minister Ramdas Athawale in Delhi

 

Two BJP ministers from AP @ncbn's cabinet resign, Kamineni Srinivas, Health & Medical Edu minister and P Manikyala Rao, Endowments Minister, submitted their resignations to the CM. Their decision is in the wake of TDP asking its ministers to resign from the Union Cabinet.

— Pinky Rajpurohit (@Madrassan) March 8, 2018

• TDP MP YS Chowdary and Ashok Gajapathi Raju to give a statement in Rajya Sabha & Lok Sabha respectively.

Even before TDP, Uddhav Ji had clarified his stance. 2 ministers from TDP are about to resign, BJP should've thought about it. Former NDA leaders had kept the alliance together. Now it's overconfident. 2019 will be challenging for BJP: Manisha Kayande, Shiv Sena on #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/HJZuKW6WB9

— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2018

It's the decision we took after Arun Jaitley's statement y'day. When we're asking for our right it can't be rejected. Alliance is still under negotiation. We don't want to make it a political fight between TDP-BJP but a fight for the state: Ram Mohan Naidu, TDP MP #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/nP4ecAtT05

— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2018

•  Shiv Sena had expected this. Other parties have walked out of NDA too. Allies no longer have good relations with BJP. Gradually their grudges will spill out & eventually they'll walk out of alliance: Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena

Decided that our ministers will resign from TDP Cabinet. We will be going to the people & telling them all the things Centre has done for the state. Since independence till date, no state has received as many favours as that were given to #AndhraPradesh: PVN Madhav, BJP MLC pic.twitter.com/wsXt6O4mNp

— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2018

• It is not a good move but unfortunately, due to unavoidable circumstances, we're stepping down as ministers. Our President said that we will continue to be a partner of NDA. We are most likely to meet PM also: YS Chowdary, Union Minister, TDP
• It is very unfortunate that the Prime Minister couldn’t take the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s phone call on such an important matter. This doesn’t augur well for the interest of the people of Andhra Pradesh: Ahmed Patel, Congress
• BJP MLA Akula Satyanarayana says Kamineni Srinivas and Pydikondala Manikyala Rao, the two BJP ministers in the state cabinet will resign today.

The TDP is the second-largest party after the BJP in the NDA and has 16 MPs in the Lok Sabha and six in the Rajya Sabha. Naidu's announcement came barely hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that granting of special status to Andhra Pradesh was not possible after the 14th Finance Commission recommendations. We have now come out of the NDA. Party-to-party (TDP-BJP ties) issue will be decided later, he added. This (quitting the cabinet) is the first step," he said. Jaitley said giving special category status, as demanded by Naidu, to any state apart from those in the North-East and three hill provinces was not constitutionally possible after the implementation of the 14th Finance Commission recommendations. "The Centre stands committed to satisfying every condition. The only variation is that after the 14th Finance Commission report, instead of formally calling it a Special Category state, we are calling it a special package, which gives the same monetary benefits that a special category state gives you," Jaitley said. Granting special category status was a promise made by the previous UPA government in 2014 at the time of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and creation of Telangana, which all the parties in the state are seeking now. For special category status category states, the Centre meets 90 per cent of the funds required in a centrally sponsored scheme as against 60 per cent in case of normal category states. The remaining funds are provided by the state governments. Naidu said Jaitley's announcement was the "last straw" for the TDP. Naidu had repeatedly insisted on special category state status for Andhra Pradesh following mounting pressure from the opposition. Jaitley's statement was nothing but insulting us, he maintained. I made every effort to get our issues resolved by the Centre in the last four years. I told them about the people s sentiment and tried to convince them in every manner but to no avail, he said. Last month, Naidu had met the Prime Minister in Delhi and declared later: "If they don't want us, we will do namaskaram and chart our own course." The major move comes just months ahead of crucial general elections in 2019. The TDP leadership believes it will have a strong political plank to nullify anti-incumbency if the party snaps ties with the BJP over the issue of Andhra being "ignored" by the Modi government. Andhra Pradesh goes to polls in 2019. In the 175-member Assembly, the TDP won 102 seats in 2014. It doesn't have to depend on the support of the four BJP MLAs to maintain a majority in the state. Also, the BJP and the NDA have a comfortable majority at the Centre, the pullout of the TDP from the ruling coalition would pose no threat to the government. Meanwhile, TDP's rival in the state YSR Congress had also announced that its MPs would resign from Parliament on April 6 if the Centre did accord Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh. YSR Congress won eight seats in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. (With inputs from The Telegraph Calcutta)