AP Cong begins campaign against CM, Union Mins for spl status

Seeking to exert pressure on the state government and Centre on the issue of according special status to Andhra Pradesh, Congress today launched an ‘SMS campaign’ targeting Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Union Ministers from the state.

The AP Youth Congress and National Student Union of India (NSUI), affiliated to Congress, released posters with the mobile phone numbers of Chief Minister and Union Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Y S Chowdary and Nirmala Sitharaman printed on them.

The SMSes to be sent by the people would put pressure on the Chief Minister and Union Ministers, the posters said.

Congress had earlier conducted a campaign of lodging ‘police complaints’ against the CM and Union Ministers for allegedly “deceiving” people on special status.

The promise of special status was made to Seemandhra (new Andhra Pradesh) by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the floor of Parliament during discussion on state bifurcation last year.

Alleging that AP Congress leaders were indulging in “cheap tactics”, Venkaiah Naidu who was here two days ago said that Congress divided Andhra Pradesh just ahead of elections last year for political gains after being in power for 10 years.

He wondered why the then UPA Government did not include the issue of special status in the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Act.