Special Category Status for Andhra: 5 years later, Jagan in Chandrababu Naidu’s shoes

Since the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the state’s politics has been revolving around the Special Category Status (SCS) for it, even as the two major parties – Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the ruling YSRCP of Jagan Mohan Reddy – have been unable to coax the Centre in granting the demand.

Like the issue haunted then CM Chandrababu Naidu ahead of the 2019 simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state, Jagan faces the same predicament now and is likely to be in Delhi on Thursday to seek clarity from the BJP, as pressure from the Opposition TDP and Congress mounts back at home.

The SCS for Andhra Pradesh is one of the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, which led to the formation of Telangana in June 2014.

Riding on the SCS issue, Jagan had swept the 2019 elections, with his party winning 151 of the 175 seats and 23 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Jagan constantly raised the issue during his Praja Sankalpa Yatra, which began in Idupulapaya of Kadapa district in November 2017, and slammed Naidu for not being able to get SCS for the state. He also accused the TDP chief of going soft on the BJP despite it going back on its promise of granting SCS to Andhra Pradesh.

His attacks on the TDP over the SCS had also led to the Naidu-led party breaking ties with the BJP-led NDA government in March 2018 while accusing the Narendra Modi government of ignoring pleas for SCS. In protest, Naidu had also asked two Union ministers – Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Y Satyanarayana Chowdhary – to resign from the NDA Cabinet. The TDP chief then went on to launch an anti-Modi campaign ahead of the 2019 elections, a move which eventually backfired.

The TDP chief was also ridiculed by YSRCP MLAs, including Jagan, in the Assembly