Telugu Desam Party, which has made a futile attempt to corner the Narendra Modi government by moving a no-confidence motion on the injustice meted out to Andhra Pradesh, is now trying to fix Vice President of India and Rajya Sabha deputy chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.
After failing in the non-trust motion, the TDP has given a notice in Rajya Sabha to discuss the issue of non-implementation of promises made by the Centre in the AP Reorganisation Act, including special category status. The issue has been posted for a short-notice discussion on Tuesday.
The TDP, in fact, cannot expect much from the government except wasting the precious time of Rajya Sabha, as none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself made a categorical statement in the Lok Sabha that there was no question of giving special category status to AP as recommended by 14th finance commission. He also made it clear that the centre would implement all the promises made in the Act.
Now, what would the TDP gain from the debate?
According to party sources, the party leadership wants to drag Venkaiah into the whole controversy over non-implementation of the promises made in the Act.
Since it was Venkaiah who had demanded that AP should get special category status for 10 years, the TDP MPs are planning to target him specifically and made him commit on the issue.
If MPs can achieve this, it would be a plus point for the TDP. But a shrewd politician that he is, Venkaiah is unlikely to yield to such pressures. If he thinks it is going to be an embarrassment for him, he would simply skip the session on Tuesday and entrust the responsibility of holding the debate to a panel chairman!
