Chandrababu Naidu's day-long fast becomes centre-stage for show of opposition unity

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu sat on a day-long fast with his ministers and party lawmakers in New Delhi on Monday to protest against alleged “injustice” done to his state by denying special category status, officials in his office said. “Important leaders of other opposition parties will visit Naidu during this period to extend support,” an official in the chief minister’s office said. Naidu will lead a delegation of his party’s leaders to President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday. The Telegu Desam Party (TDP) chief and his ministerial colleagues began the day by visiting the Rajghat. All of them were dressed in black as a mark of protest.

Here are the Highlights from Andhra Bhawan:

2.30 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will leave for Delhi tomorrow to meet Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

1.45 PM: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, DMK's T Siva and TMC's Derek O' Brien at Andhra Pradesh CM & TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu's day-long fast in Delhi.

1.40 pm: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and LJD leader Sharad Yadav express support towards Chandrababu Naidu.

1.30 pm: Chandrababu Naidu ji, I would like to congratulate TDP. We started this fight 4 years back but there is a very important date - July 20, 2018 - when TDP brought in 'No Confidence Motion' in Lok Sabha. This scared Modi, says Derek O'Brien, Trinamool leader at 'Dharma Porata Deeksha'.

11.30 am: I stand in support of Naidu, special category status promise must be implemented without any further delay. Demand for special status had support of all parties when it was discussed in Parliament, says former PM Manmohan Singh.

11.05 am: I stand with the people of Andhra Pradesh. What kind of a PM is he? He did not fulfill the commitment made to the people of Andhra Pradesh. Mr Modi, tells a lie wherever he goes. He has got no credibility left, says Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

10.55 am: Rahul Gandhi reaches Chandrababu Naidu's protest venue at Andhra Bhawan.

10.45 am: National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and NCP's Majeed Memon at the day-long hunger strike by Andhra Pradesh CM & TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu at Andhra Pradesh Bhawan.

10 pm: We were denied permission to stage a protest in Parliament premises. So, we came here, says the TDP chief.

9.59 am: I am warning you. Don’t make personal attacks against me and my people. It’s unwarranted. I am just doing my duty as the head of my state. We are only demanding what we were promised, says the Andhra chief minister.

9.57 am: On behalf of five crore people, I’m warning this government... I came here to remind you of the promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act, Naidu says. 

9.56 am: Atal Bihari Vajpayee said ‘raj dharma’ was not followed in Gujarat (during the 2002 riots). Now, ‘raj dharma’ is not being followed in the case of Andhra Pradesh. We have been denied what is rightfully ours, says Naidu.

9.55 am: Congress president Rahul Gandhi will visit Andhra Pradesh Bhawan to express solidarity with Chandrababu Naidu later today.

9.45 am: If you won't fulfil our demands, we know how to get them fulfilled. This is about self respect of people of Andhra Pradesh. Whenever there is an attack on our self-respect, we won't tolerate it. I am warning this government and particularly the PM to stop attacking an individual.

9.30 am: Today we have came here, all the way, to protest against the central government. Yesterday, PM visited Guntur, just a day before the dharna. What is the need, I am asking, says Chandrababu Naidu.

Naidu’s protest comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on him in a rally in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur. PM Modi accused Naidu of betraying his father-in-law NT Rama Ram, the founder of TDP and the founder chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and also said that Naidu was scared this time because has never won successive elections.

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He also said that Naidu made a "U-turn" on promises of development to the state and was only trying to replicate the NDA government's schemes. “Our government gave to Andhra Pradesh much more than what was mentioned in special status. CM of Andhra Pradesh acknowledged this package but took a U-turn as they failed to use the funds in the appropriate way and were not able to develop the state," PM Modi said at the public rally in Guntur on Sunday.

Live from my day-long hunger strike against the central government, New Delhi. #DharmaPorataDeeksha #APDemandsJusti… https://t.co/YGcWFQPP63

— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) February 11, 2019

Naidu walked out of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in March last year, after the Centre refused to accept its demand for a special category state status for Andhra Pradesh and compensate for the losses suffered from the creation of a separate Telangana state in 2014.