HYDERABAD: The two Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ministers in the Narendra Modi cabinet — civil aviation minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju and minister of state for science and technology YS Chowdary — on Sunday offered to resign from their posts in protest against the Centre’s categorical statement against granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
At the TDP parliamentary party meeting in Vijayawada, both ministers told party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu that they were ready to resign. Several party MPs suggested that the TDP should pull out of the NDA as any compromise with the Centre would jeopardise the party’s interests in the state.
But Naidu told them to maintain restraint while continuing to mount pressure on the Centre. “We will stick to the coalition dharma and mount pressure on the Centre to concede our demand. We have sought an appointment with PM Narendra Modi.”