VIJAYAWADA: The fight for special category status for Andhra Pradesh has turned into an electoral battle with the ruling TDP and the main opposition YSRC attempting to derive political advantage out of this emotive issue. TDP is harping on “self-respect of the Telugu people and pride of the Andhras” while YSRC is attempting to expose Naidu’s “political drama”.Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who launched a day-long Deeksha in Delhi on Monday, has raked up the issue of Telugu self-respect and Andhra pride in a bid to turn voters towards the ruling party ahead of the general elections. Naidu has also hinted at the north neglecting the south when he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not think that AP is far away from Delhi so that the Centre could neglect the southern state.“We will march to Delhi to claim our rights,” he said. Naidu’s agitation has also helped consolidation of non-BJP forces at the national level, and at the state level, he has garnered the much-needed support of the Left parties. An alliance with the Left is likely to benefit Naidu at the hustings. He has also raked up Modi’s utterances at a public meeting in Guntur on Sunday saying Modi has not insulted him but an Andhra leader and chief minister of a state with five crore people.Banners declaring special status as the right of the Andhras and Centre’s alleged injustice and deceit in fulfilling the promises made in the AP State Reorganisation Act, 2014 have come up all over the state. Naidu has chosen to pictorially depict the Centre’s “neglect” of and “injustice” to AP by directing TDP leaders to carry two empty black mud pots during the protests. Modi had brought two pots – one with earth from Parliament complex and other with Yamuna water – during the foundation stone laying ceremony of Amaravati in 2015. According to political analysts, this pictorial depiction has helped the TDP to gain public sympathy."You gave soil and Yamuna water to us when you came to Amaravati. You told us that you are behind us in the development of the capital city. But, you did not stand by us. You now visited Guntur only to attack me personally. This is unwarranted,” Naidu told Modi in an open letter. He said the self-respect of AP is hit now. “We know what to do if our self-respect is hit,” he said.On the other hand, YSRC leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy too revived his demand for special category status and held Naidu responsible for its denial by the Centre in the last four years and a half. The YSRC leader has been confining himself to criticising Naidu on the SCS issue, but Naidu took his fight a step further holding not only Modi but also Jagan for the alleged conspiracy against the TDP government in the state. Naidu has dragged his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao too into the issue.

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