Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Andhra Pradesh on January 6, 2019 has been postponed. Ever since AP BJP leaders announced the Prime Minister's plans to visit the state, it had triggered a controversy with Telugu Desam leaders including Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu raising objections.
According to the earlier schedule, after visiting Guntur on January 6, Mr Modi was to leave for Kerala for launching the party’s campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. Kerala BJP president P.S. Sreedharan on Thursday said at Thiruvanantha-puram that Mr Modi would arrive in Pathanamthitta from Andhra Pradesh on January 6. He, however, said that the PM had cancelled his AP plan due to some sudden and urgent programmes.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders on Friday said Mr Modi would visit AP at the end of January. They said the PM would will visit AP thrice before the end of February.
The TD leaders raised objections over the PM's programme, saying that before visiting the state, the PM must fulfil all pending promises issues in the AP Reorganisation Act, including granting Special Category Status to the state.
The AP government had decided to observe January 6 as a protest day in view of Mr Modi’s visit. Mr Naidu had also asked the people to show black flags during the PM’s visit. He said, “Why is Mr Modi visiting AP, is it to check if the people here are alive or dead?”
For the past two weeks, this war of words had been going on between the BJP and Telugu Desam leaders over the Prime Minister’s visit.
