The Left parties in Andhra Pradesh – CPI, CPM and several other smaller parties – have given a call for a State-wide bandh on Thursday in protest against “injustice done to Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget and the betrayal of the people of the State by the NDA government at the Centre.”
The Congress and the YSR Congress Party have lent support to the bandh call.
The Left parties said the Budget had completely ignored Andhra Pradesh and there were no specific budgetary allocations for the construction of the new capital, Amaravati, or any other major project such as the mega Polavaram irrigation project on the Godavari. Further, there was no mention of the promised railway zone at Visakhapatnam and the allocations to the central educational institutions sanctioned for the State were paltry.
The Left parties said both the ruling Telugu Desam Party and the BJP, both alliance partners at the State and Central levels, had fooled the people of the State for four years and now the TDP had woken up and was making a show of protest.
The YSR Congress was extremely critical of the TDP, but soft on the BJP, while the Congress blamed both the parties for pushing the State into a crisis and going back on the promises.