KCR backs special category status for Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday said his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) would support the special category status for neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

His announcement at an election rally came a day before the campaigning is to end for elections in both the Telugu states and it appears to bolster prospects of his ally YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh, where simultaneous elections are being held for the Assembly.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, has, for the first time, publicly announced support for special status and it came amid the continuing attack by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on the YSRCP for joining hands with the TRS without the latter giving any assurance on the issue.

Addressing an election rally in Vikarabad near here, KCR targeted Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu and predicted that he would badly lose the elections.

The TRS chief said his party MPs already supported the demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh in the Parliament. He also dismissed the allegation by Naidu that Telangana was trying to stall the Polavaram project.

"People of Andhra are good but some political leaders like Chandrababu Naidu are creating irritants. He is cursing Hyderabad, saying it will lose its shine. It is Chandrababu Naidu who will lose the deposit in these elections," he said.

KCR also predicted that the TRS will win 16 Lok Sabha seats, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will secure one seat and with the YSRCP, they together would have 35-36 MPs.

Reacting to KCR's announcement, Naidu said the TRS chief's life was full of lies. He wanted to know why he opposed special status to Andhra Pradesh when UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi wanted to give it.

The TDP chief also asked KCR why he did not support the TDP's no-confidence motion against Narendra Modi government in the Parliament over the same issue.