Ahead of no-confidence motion, TDP MP Diwakar Reddy defies party whip

Suresh Dharur
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, July 19

As the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is reaching out to various parties to seek support for its no-confidence motion against the NDA government, a senior party MP JC Diwakar Reddy struck a defiant note and said that he would not attend the Parliament session.

The Chandrababu Naidu-led party has issued whip to all its MPs to be present in the Parliament on Friday when the no-trust will come up for debate. The regional party had moved the no-confidence motion to protest against non-implementation of promises contained in the AP Re-organisation Act, including Special Category Status to AP.

This is the first no-trust motion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's four-year-old government will face and the first to be taken up in 15 years.

“I am fed up with the Centre and also our government in the state. I am fed up with the whole political system. You can write that I will be violating the party whip and will not travel to Delhi to participate in the debate in the Parliament,” Diwakar Reddy, who represents Anantapur constituency, said when contacted.

The sulking MP has made it clear that the no-confidence motion would not make any difference to the situation as the NDA government has the required numbers to sail through. “This is just a routine ritual. The government is not going to fall, anyway,” he said.

Reddy is reportedly peeved over not being consulted by the party leadership before deciding to give notice for no-trust motion. A former Congress minister in the combined Andhra Pradesh and a six-time MLA from Tadipatri in Anantapur district before switching over to the TDP before the 2014 general elections, Reddy is nursing a strained relationship with his party colleagues in the Parliament, particularly Sujana Chudhary, a former Union Minister considered a close confidant of the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

Meanwhile, Naidu on Thursday wrote to all MPs in the Lok Sabha, seeking their support for the no-confidence motion being moved by his party. He listed out a series of failures of the NDA government, from which his party had pulled out in March this year following denial of special category status to AP.

“I wish to bring to your kind notice, the grave injustice caused to the state of Andhra Pradesh due to inconsistencies in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, and non-implementation of assurances made by the then Prime Minister on the floor of the Rajya Sabha,” the two-page letter sent to all MPs said.

“The unscientific process, undue haste and lack of transparency while passing the AP Reorganisation Bill, to which all political parties have been witnesses, has resulted in severe economic stress and put severe financial burden on the Andhra Pradesh government,” the TDP president said.

The Chief Minister listed 18 promises that were made to the residual state before bifurcation in 2014.

These include Special Category Status (SCS), Polavaram project, Centre’s help to bring down revenue deficit, Amaravati, development of backward districts, new railway zone, Kadapa Steel Plant, establishment of institutions, Dugarajapatnam Port, Visakhapatnam-Chennai industrial corridor, greenfield crude oil refinery and petrochemical complex, tax incentives, metro rail facility in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali, Rapid Rail and Road connectivity from new capital to Hyderabad, expansion of Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati airports to international standards, increasing the number of Assembly seats in the state, a Greyhounds training centre and other pending inter-state issues.

“Even though 6 assurances have been included in the main sections of the Act, the progress of implementation of these assurances by the Centre is poor,” the letter said.

Naidu also pointed out that the BJP, which was in the opposition during the bifurcation, had not only agreed to the SCS demand, but had also demanded the same for a period of 10 years.

“It is unfortunate to note that the BJP-led NDA government has not even respected its own election manifesto relating to Andhra, which promised SCS and fulfilment of all provisions of the Act, summed up in the above mentioned 18 issues. Further, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his election campaigns in Tirupati and Nellore assured to accord special status to Andhra and this assurance too is not implemented,” Naidu said.

The chief minister said that the ‘palpable reluctance and disinterest’ in implementing the assurances was causing ‘severe hardships’ to the citizens of his state.

“In view of the continued adamant attitude of the BJP government, TDP has moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government again, in the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament. I sincerely appeal to you to support the no-confidence motion moved by our MPs and shall be thankful for your support in further carrying forward with the motion of no-confidence,” he said.

 Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Wednesday admitted the no-confidence motion and said that it would be taken up on Friday for discussion and voting.

Meanwhile, the State Finance minister Y Ramakrishunudu and AP Planning Board Vice Chairman Kutumba Rao rushed to Delhi to assist the MPs during the debate.