Centre will not backtrack on Special status: Venkaiah Naidu

He said that special packages could also solve the state’s problems and industrial incentives were not linked to special status.

Uday Bhanu, a kirana shop owner, left behind a suicide note in which he called upon students to fight for special status.

Unhappy over the delay on the part of the Centre in granting special status to Andhra, he discussed the issue with his friend before returning home and resorting to the extreme step, family members said.

A state wide bandh has been called by YSRCP party in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday demanding a special status to AP. He questioned the TDP leaders, who assured on special status during the elections, as to why they assured on it then.

Earlier, Ramishetti Lakshmaiah (55) committed suicide in Nellore district on the same issue on Thursday.

Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said the Centre is in favour of granting Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh and is in the process of finding out ways to fulfil the demand even as the Opposition parties in the state has upped the ante on the issue.

In Visakhapatnam, police arrested YSRCP leader Vijay Sai Reddy, a close aide of party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, and other party leaders and activists for blocking the road.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to urge him to immediately grant special status to the revenue-deficit state.

During his visit to the Swarna Bharath Trust in the district, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters that the Niti Ayog members would submit a report soon on the AP issues to the Prime Minister.

A case has been registered in this connection and investigations are underway, police said.