Akali Dal supports Andhra's special status demand, commends BJP for uplifting farmers

New Delhi, July 20 (IANS) Akali Dal MP Prem Singh Chandumajra on Friday came out in support of TDP's appeal for special status for Andhra Pradesh, while appreciating the BJP's efforts to uplift the farmers.

He advised the Telugu Desam Party to not trust the Congress as the "party has been known for betraying leaders like Deve Gowda, Chandra Shekhar, Pandit Nehru and even Mahatma Gandhi."

The TDP in Andhra Pradesh has snapped its alliance with the BJP over the Centre's refusal to give special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

"We understand what they are going through because we have been through that phase. During the Congress' rule, we did not have water and the party did not even turn Chandigarh into a Union Territory," Chandumajra said in the Lok Sabha debate on the no-confidence vote.

About the 1984 riots, he said that it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that brought the culprits to justice and not the Congress who "protected the murderers by closing all the files".

Appreciating the efforts of the Modi regime in uplifting the farmers in Punjab, the Akali Dal leader said that it is unfortunate that Congress President Rahul Gandhi called everything the BJP did as a mere "jumla".

"It is a fact that when Modi government came, it brought with a new development model. It is this model that is taking the subsidies from the rich and giving it to the poor," he said, adding that the Congress just takes and gives nothing. 

"Federalism and decentralization came only with the Modi government," he said.

Praising the Modi government's raising of the minimum support price (MSP), he said that now "all farmers are happy that they don't have to pay for the fertilizers and diesel because the government takes care of it".