TDP MPs YS Chowdary and Ashok Gajapathi Raju submitted their resignations on the evening of Thursday, 8 March, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter’s residence in 7 Lok Kalyan Marg.
Following the resignation, Raju and Chowdary, who till now served in the Modi cabinet as Aviation Minister and MoS Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, respectively, addressed the media to shed more light on the political upheaval the announcement of which rocked the nation last night.
They said that the PM should address the issue and the sentiments of the people of Andhra Pradesh should be respected.
“Our leader has taken the decision, rightly, to quit the government. We, therefore, resigned,” Chowdary said.
While thanking the PM for the opportunity, the ministers reiterated their commitment to serve the people of Andhra Pradesh.
“It is an unfortunate thing,” Chowdary commented on the separation, adding that the PM too felt the same way.
“We will continue to remain members of the NDA,” Chowdary claimed adding that there is nothing wrong in being part of the alliance.
“The way forward means we have to ensure that the promises and commitments made in AP Reorganisation Act are pursued. Probably as independent members we will have a better leeway and freedom to pursue those issues,” he said.
Both the leaders reiterated that expectations of the people of Andhra have to be met as per the guarantees under the Constitution. They highlighted that they have been requesting for the fulfilment of the promises made at the time of bifurcation in 2014 for a long time.
“People of Andhra Pradesh are very emotional so we have to go with their sentiment,” Chowdary said.
“One national party has deceived and the other has cheated. Which is one and two is for the nation to understand,” said Chowdary.
Chowdary rejected the notion that the resignation is a “tit-for-tat” politics saying that Naidu is known to be a statesman and BJP leaders must have resigned following directions from their party. The ministers said they wanted to submit their resignations to the PM because they served under him all these years.
On the question of whether the party will support the finance bill, the minister said that they will wait for direction from Naidu and “will pass that bridge when it comes”.