CPM activists hold a candlelight protest demanding special category status for Andhra Pradesh in Visakhapatnam... Read More

HYDERABAD: The demand for special category status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh has now taken the social media by a storm even as opposition parties launched a scathing attack on chief minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu for 'going soft' on the crucial issue and 'muffling' the voice of the people seeking the special tag. The main Opposition YSRCP on Wednesday announced that party MPs would resign and seek fresh mandate after the Budget session on the SCS plank.

Leader of the opposition YS Jaganmohan Reddy announced that he would participate in the candlelight rally on RK Beach Road in Visakhapatnam on Thursday in support of the demand.

Meanwhile, Congress MP KVP Ramachandra Rao, who last year moved a private member's bill on SCS in the Rajya Sabha, called upon people to put pressure on the Centre to realise the legitimate and legal demands of the state. Special logos with the map of AP and the slogan, “We want special status," have become profile and display photos (DPs) in WhatsApp. As many as a dozen hashtags have been proposed to launch a massive campaign in the cyber world to bring the central government “on its knees".

Long messages explaining the benefits of SCS are being circulated over social media, even as film actor and Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan took indirect potshots at Naidu for the latter refusing to see a link between SCS demand and jallikattu.Emphasizing the need for SCS, the messages circulating in social media point out that “of the 274 operational industrial estates 212 (in and around Hyderabad, Medak and Rangareddy) went to Telangana, and 62 to AP. Of the 6.35 lakh jobs in these industries, only 65,000 jobs are in AP. The software industry in Hyderabad is worth Rs 65,000 crore, compared to AP's software industry's net worth of Rs 1,200 crore." "Special category status is our right and despite the restrictions the candlelight rally will continue. The chief minister should emulate his Tamil Nadu counterpart, who led an allparty delegation to Delhi, and forced the Centre to fall in line on the jallikattu issue. Chandrababu Naidu should also follow suit and mount pressure on Modi government on the SCS issue and give an ultimatum that he will pull out from the NDA coalition,“ YSRCP chief Jaganmohan Reddy said while speaking to media in Hyderabad.

