Telugu film star and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan has said the Centre's injustice to Andhra Pradesh is burning agonising and killing its people.
He said he was ready to sit on an indefinite fast "any day from now" if the Centre did not grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.
He demanded that the Centre immediately take a 'responsible decision' and come clear on the issue.
Kalyan said the kind of 'injustice' the Centre meted out to Andhra Pradesh in the last four yeas "is burning, agonising and killing us."
Stating that he was ready to make sacrficies for the cause of the state, he said 'any day from now, I am ready to sit on an indefinite fast till the Centre budges.'
Speaking at the fourth anniversary celebrations of Jana Sena here tonight, he said non-grant of SCS amounted to a violation of the Constitution.
"It is not an issue of SCS alone. It may become a precedent. Promises may be made in Parliament, but broken. We should not let it happen. So we shall fight very strongly for the cause of SCS" he said.
Targeting Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over his comments on SCS, Kalyan demanded to know why they should follow laws when the Centre does not honour it's promises.
"Are you beyond the law? No, you are very much under the purview of the law, Mr Jaitley," he said.
Jaitley had stated at a press conference in Delhi on March 7 that funds equivalent to what a special category state receives would be extended to Andhra Pradesh, but drew a line saying politics cannot increase the quantum of money.
"... Sentiment does not decide quantum of funds, it is the constitutional award of the Finance Commission which decides on the quantum of funds that states get," he had said.
Kalyan charged the Chandrababu Naidu government with converting the state into a 'corrupt Andhra Pradesh' and warned it of repercussions in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
He warned TDP that the 2019 polls would not be as smooth as it was in 2014, when after the formation of his party, he supported the TDP-BJP combine in (then united) Andhra Pradesh and did not contest the elections.
Kalyan has already announced that Jana Sena would contest the polls next year.
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PTI
