VIJAYAWADA: The YSR Congress would hold a protest at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the parliament premises all through the monsoon session. The party in consultation with its president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy had decided to continue the protests throughout the session.

Party MPs V Vijayasai Reddy and V Prabhakar Reddy would hold protests in the Rajya Sabha during the session, while the others, including the former MPs, would hold protest at the Mahatma Gandhi statue.

Party senior leader and former MP Y V Subba Reddy, said that they have been fighting for the special category status for the past four years and would continue their fight now even though they have resigned to the Lok Sabha . “We have served no confidence notices for 13 times during the last budget session. We had 90 members support though the Speaker required just 50 members support. Still the speaker did not take up our notices for discussion and adjourned the House,” Subba Reddy said. He further said that the YSR Congress would also hold protests across the State during the Parliament session.

The former MP accused the BJP and TDP of betraying people by denying the special category status and other benefits. He blamed the TDP for not putting enough pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for special category status while the TDP was part of the Central government. “Not even once, the TDP Ministers in the Modi cabinet made an attempt to raise the issues concerning the State in the cabinet meetings. They remained spectators for four years and now shedding crocodile tears,” he said.

Meanwhile, party Rajya Sabha member V Vijayasai Reddy protested against the central government inviting MP Butta Renuka on behalf of the YSR Congress for the all party meeting. He raised objections before parliamentary affairs minister Anantha Kumar for inviting Renuka who had defected to the TDP. He questioned the intentions of the government in inviting Renuka to represent the YSR Congress, when the party had sought her disqualification for defection.

“The YSR Congress had given letters to the Lok Sabha Speaker seeking disqualification of Renuka, S P Y Reddy and Kothapalli Geetha who defected the party. The speaker did not take any decision, but the government had invited the defector to represent the party,” he said.

On Vijayasai Reddy’s objection and the support extended to him by the other Opposition parties, the government withdrew Renuka’s invitation.

Vijayasai Reddy alleged that the BJP government had invited Butta Renuka only at the behest of the TDP. “The BJP and TDP connivance continues and the invitation to Renuka exposed this nexus,” Vijayasai Reddy said.

