Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu arrived in New Delhi on Sunday. He is scheduled to launch his 12-hour hunger strike at Andhra Pradesh Bhavan on Monday, from 8 am to 8 pm.
He announced his intention to go to Delhi for his “Dharma Porata Deeksha” a couple of days ago. He had hired two trains at a cost of a little more than 1 crore rupees, to transport lakhs of protesters to Delhi.
His ministers, party legislators and parliamentarians will accompany Naidu in his hunger strike. He will submit a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday.
This is Naidu’s second strike in New Delhi. In October 2013, He had staged an indefinite fast at the AP Bhavan, demanding that if the then unified Andhra Pradesh is split, both the states should get equal rights. However, on the fifth day of his protest, Naidu was forcibly shifted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
On 20 April 2018, his birthday, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president observed fast in Vijayawada, demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh. The TDP quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) last year when the centre refused to grant special status to AP.
