New Delhi, May 10: Taking the issue of defections to the national capital, Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that he brought the issue to the notice of Prime Minister and opined that it is not fair to field a candidate for the top post of President.
Speaking to reporters after meeting the Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Wednesday he said, ‘we have complained to the Prime Minister about the luring of YSR Congress MLAs by TDP and sought disqualification of the defectors.
While defections are against the democratic spirit, accommodating some of them into the AP cabinet is far worse and this was stressed during the meeting with the Prime Minister.’
We had taken up the same issue with the President and leaders of political parties and this visit is part of Save Democracy campaign, he said.
‘We have also sought a CBI inquiry into the Agri Gold scam in which TDP leaders and ministers, including Nara Lokesh, are said to be involved.
Though the move of the Centre of giving Rs 5,000 per quintal to chilli farmers is welcome, it would be fair if the State also adds Rs 3,000 as its share and pay a total of Rs 8,000 to farmers,’ he told the Prime Minister adding that as Chandrababu Naidu did not give the amount the Centre should bear the additional sum.
‘We have also asked the Prime Minister to reconsider the issue Special Category Status (SCS) as promised during the State division and we will continue our fight on the issue. We cannot ignore the SCS as AP cannot compete with other states unless the status is accorded,’ the Prime Minister was told by the Leader of Opposition. SCS was also taken up by BJP and was included in its election manifesto and it was mentioned in the Tirupati meeting during electioneering and should be honoured even if Chandrababu Naidu does not raise the issue.’
We will try to mount pressure on the Prime Minister as he is the only person who can accord SCS to the state and reiterated that YSR Congress has always been straight forward while TDP line of thinking was crooked. The state should at least now set up Market Stabilisation Fund to check the fluctuations, he said.
Though Congress has conspired and put him in jail, Jagan said that YSR Congress has supported the candidature of Pranab Mukherjee for the post of President and opined that it is better if there is no contest for the top post this time.
He urged the PM to declare the Special Status to the state on a priority basis as the youth of the state are getting frustrated with the deprivation of employment sources after bifurcation.
Stating that the State government failed to contain the exploitation by private middlemen at market yards, the YSRCP chief also urged Narendra Modi to come to the rescue of farmers of the state by providing support for various agricultural produces.
Speaking to the media after meeting the PM, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said, "not a single agricultural produce including mirchi, turmeric is getting a good price in the market and the Centre should increase the quota to be purchased under market intervention scheme and state government should add its own support.
He also said that Special Category status is must for Andhra Pradesh to compete with the neighbouring states.
He also urged Narendra Modi to look into the case of Agri Gold and facilitate the refund of the depositors by acquiring all the benami properties of the fraud company.
YS Jagan appealed the PM to order for a CBI probe on the Agri gold scam in which there are allegations that several TDP leaders and Lokesh are involved.
A Peep Into CM Jagan’s Heart Of Gold!
