Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) vice-president Kolanukonda Shivaji on May 1 (Wednesday) criticised the election manifestos released by the TDP-JSP alliance and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) respectively.
In a statement, he said that despite the TDP-JSP combine being allied with the BJP in the State, they could not bring out a joint manifesto. “The BJP has categorically refused to associate itself with the TDP-JSP manifesto today. Where is the guarantee that the BJP, if re-elected to power at the Centre, would release funds for the many populist schemes being promised by the TDP-JSP?” he asked.
In the same vein, the Congress leader said that the State was witnessing an unfortunate situation where both the incumbent YSRCP government and the Opposition TDP were extending their support to the BJP at the Centre, neglecting the fact that people of the State were against the BJP.
SCS issue
He flayed both parties for failing to include the issue of Special Category Status (SCS) in their manifestos and remarked that it reflected how ‘serious’ they were about developing Andhra Pradesh.