Chandrababu Naidu's TDP had last week pulled its 2 ministers from PM Modi's government
Chandrababu Naidu's
Telugu Desam Party has pulled out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance this morning over the central government's refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
The
TDP has said it will move a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in parliament. "We will give a serious no confidence motion in Parliament with at least 50 signatures as is mandated on Monday," said TDP lawmaker Thota Narsimhan.
Accusing the BJP of not keeping its promises, he added the BJP stands for "Break Janta Promise."
The
decision to pull the plug on the alliance was taken during a tele-conference of TDP leaders with party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu this morning. The TDP has 16 members in the Lok Sabha, but its pull-out does not threaten the ruling coalition.
The TDP had last week pulled its two ministers out of the central government but had stopped short of walking out of the alliance. Union ministers P Ashok Gajapati Raju and Y S Chowdary had quit on March 8 after a meeting with the prime minister.
Mr Naidu has been furious with the centre for not granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh as promised after Telangana was carved out of it in 2014. Special status would mean a large infusion of central funds to help with the state government's plans to develop its new capital Amravati.
The centre had turned down Mr Naidu's demand for special category status to Andhra Pradesh saying the nomenclature had been done away with, except for hill states and states in the Northeast. But Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had promised the state funds equivalent to what a special category state gets.