TDP ministers resign but alliance stays

TDP MPs protest at Parliament House demanding special status for AP, on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

TDP leader Y S Chowdary on Thursday said he and his colleague Ashok Gajapathi Raju were stepping down as ministers as it was necessitated by "unavoidable circumstances" but the party would continue to be part of the NDA.

Likening the decision to an unfortunate divorce, Chowdary, the Union minister of state for science and technology, said he and Raju, Union civil aviation minister, would continue to work as parliamentarians for Andhra Pradesh. Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's announcement on Wednesday night that his leaders would exit the cabinet came a few hours after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Centre couldn't offer special status to Andhra Pradesh, but said would offer a special package with equivalent funding.

"We will be happy when marriages happen, not when divorces happen. It is not a good move, but unfortunately due to unavoidable circumstances we had to take this move. We are stepping down as ministers, but our president has said we will be continuing as part of NDA," Chowdhary told the media. The beauty of democracy, he said, was to bring unanimity and make everyone happy and this was the BJP's responsibility.

16
Number of MPs TDP has in the Lok Sabha

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