Hitherto, the YSR Congress party in Andhra Pradesh headed by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has been adopting a friendly approach towards the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
There has not been any occasion when the YSRC leaders, including Jagan, has made any critical comments against the Centre, though occasionally his party leaders reacted sharply to the criticism by the local Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
Especially, YSRC general secretary and parliamentary party leader V Vijay Sai Reddy has been maintaining very cordial relations with Centre.
He has close connections with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Central ministers, so much so that he could use his good office to be nominated as the Rajya Sabha panel chairperson as well.
But suddenly, there was a change in his voice; or at least he sounded differently on Tuesday, when he made some critical comments against the Centre, while speaking in Rajya Sabha.
Sai Reddy said the government was a continuous process, though parties in power keep changing.
“It is the responsibility of the present government to implement the promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act enacted by the previous government,” he said.
He pulled up the Centre for not granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh and said both the BJP and the Congress were responsible for the sorry state of affairs in the state.
Sai Reddy reminded that then opposition leader M Venkaiah Naidu had demanded special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
“The BJP, which helped the Congress in passing the reorganisation bill by closing down the doors of the parliament, conveniently forgot the special status,” he criticised.
He demanded that all the other assurances given by the previous government in the Act should be implemented by the present government.
Sai Reddy also alleged that the Centre was showing step-motherly attitude towards Andhra Pradesh.
“When it could give huge funds for the Metro Rail project in Bengaluru, why has it forget the same metro rail project for Visakhapatnam?” he asked.