The resignation of the only two TDP ministers in the NDA government at the Centre was accepted by President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday. The leaders from Andhra Pradesh had tendered their resignation on Thursday night to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The President, as advised by the Prime Minister, has accepted the resignation of Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati and YS Chowdary from the union council of ministers with immediate effect,” a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said.

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In a major political upheaval, TDP ministers at the Centre and BJP ministers in Andhra Pradesh resigned from their respective positions as the party led by Chandrababu Naidu decided to exit the NDA government over special category status to his state.

Following their resignation, Chowdary, who served as MoS Science and Technology and Earth Sciences in the Modi government, told reporters that he was thankful to the PM for the opportunity but said that the decision was taken in the interest of the people of Andhra Pradesh.

Raju, who served as the Union Aviation Minister, joined his voice in saying 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.

“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”.

According to reports, the PM will now handle the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The PM had spoken to Naidu for about 20 minutes before the TDP leaders submitted their resignation. According to reports, Naidu is believed to have apprised the PM of the reasons behind his decision to part ways.

Early on Thursday, BJP ministers in Naidu’s cabinet Kamineni Srinivas Rao and P Manikyala Rao had tendered their resignations to the Andhra CM.