Will support any party at Centre but our demand is special category status to Andhra Pradesh: YSR chief

Kakinada: A day after the no-confidence motion move by the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) in the Parliament was outvoted, YSR Congress Party leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday, speaking to reporters, in Andhra Pradesh's Kakinada put forward his party's decision of supporting any political party at the Centre. However, he added that the demand of the party is that a special category status has to be given to the state of Andhra Pradesh. 

Reddy also announced that the party has called for a statewide bandh in Andhra Pradesh on July 24 (Tuesday) in protest against the injustice done by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

"We will support any party at the national level. Our only demand is special category status to Andhra Pradesh. We are calling for Andhra Pradesh bandh on Tuesday, July 24, against the injustice done by the BJP government," said Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Both the YSRCP and TDP, which are rivals in Andhra Pradesh politics, have found themselves on the same side of the special category demand.

The special category status would help state governments receive more funds from the Centre. It had been a poll promise of the TDP-BJP combine in 2014. However, things had come to head as part of the Parliamentary proceedings to pass Budget 2018. The Centre had not given Andhra Pradesh special category status.

This had caused a widening rift between the BJP and TDP, both at the Centre and in the Andhra Pradesh government. In a bid to press its demand, the TDP had announced that its ministers in the Union Cabinet - there were two - would resign. Just days later, the TDP quit the ruling NDA coalition. 

The YSR Congress on Thursday had announced its support for the no-confidence motion. The party general secretary and MP V Vijayasai Reddy said though the party has no presence in Lok Sabha, it would back the motion in Rajya Sabha, when the House takes up discussion. However, he alleged that the no-confidence motion is a drama by the TDP and the BJP. 

Following a 12-hour debate on Friday, the no-confidence motion move by the TDP in the Lok Sabha was defeated by 199 votes. While 126 members supported the motion, 325 MPs rejected it.