‘Will work out a way to fulfill Andhra special status demand’: Union minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu
In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times' Kumkum Chadha, Kinjarapu also spoke on TDP's NDA partner BJP's bid to end reservations for minorities
Union civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu on Sunday said that the Telugu Desam Party will work out a way for the demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh to be fulfilled.In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times' Kumkum Chadha, Kinjarapu spoke on various issues including its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner Bharatiya Janata Party's bid to end reservations for minorities, relations with BJP and more.
‘Andhra special status shouldn't be center of all demands’
On the issue of special status to bifurcated Andhra Pradesh, the TDP leader said,"There are other things to do for the state to flourish. If you are stressing on one thing, you are making these demands look smaller. I don't want that to happen. For me, railway zone is the more important thing for me as I hail from north Andhra region."“We the people of Andhra Pradesh don't have a capital. We consider Amaravati to be an important demand. I have to stress on that also. We are stressing on Pollavaram, which is a national project. It made no progress at all in the last five years. When you pick up one thing, that's a political way of thinking,” Kinjarapu, who won from Srikakulam for the third time, said. ALSO READ: TDP's Nara Lokesh explains support to Modi 3.0, Agniveer and Andhra special status
How important is special status for Andhra Pradesh?
The Union minister said,"In the initial five years of bifurcation, we had certain support from the NDA government. We had the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu in the state. We made the state progress to a certain level. We thought if he had more support from the NDA government, we could have achieved more success."
“We were more aspirational at that time. The state was just divided, we were insulted and we had the ‘josh’ to show what our state is. In 2019 we lost and Jagan came to power. For five years, he took the state for a ride. Jagan made his own constitution, roads. He just made the state look like his bank account. He could do anything as per his own whims and fancies,” said Kinjarapu, whose party TDP along with alliance partners BJP and Jana Sena, decimated Jagan Reddy's YSRCP in the Andhra assembly elections. “After assessing five years of Jagan's rule, we have gone back 30 years. Imagine a state which was trying to rebuild itself and achieve great things, with five years of rule by a madman, it went back 30 years,” he added.
‘We stand with minorities’
The BJP had attacked the governments in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka for providing reservation on religious grounds. When asked about quota for Muslims, Kinjarapu said,"We haven't spoken on it at all. Our leader Chandrababu Naidu has strongly said that there won't be any change in the things that are today. We stand by the minorities and their rights."