Narendra Modi assured people of Andhra Pradesh that they will not be left behind and the government will ensure their welfare...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured people of Andhra Pradesh that they will not be left behind and the government will ensure their welfare and development. During the no-confidence motion moved by the Telegu Desam Party (TDP), a former ally by of the BJP, Modi said the government stands with the people of Andhra Pradesh and their aspirations. "I want to assure people of Andhra Pradesh that they will not be left behind, and the government will ensure their welfare and development," Modi said.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

During Modi's entire speech, TDP MPs kept shouting "we want justice" in the House. The prime minister blamed the Congress for the division of Andhra Pradesh in a manner which left the people there unhappy. He said when the TDP decided to pull out of NDA, he had warned its leader N Chandrababu Naidu that his party was "getting entangled in a race of one-upmanship with the YSR Congress. "Just because of your internal politics with the YSRCP, you are doing this, I had told the AP CM," Modi said, adding that the issue was now being raked up in Parliament.

He said his government will keep working for the people of Andhra Pradesh, and "we will do everything possible for the development of the state". NDA government, Modi said, is "committed" towards developing Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He said the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee had created Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand. "It was done peacefully. These states are prospering ... The Congress divided Andhra Pradesh and their conduct then was shameful," he said. 

N Chandrababu Naidu

Earlier, TDP's Jayadev Galla initiated the debate on the first no-confidence motion against the Modi government in four years. Galla ended his speech terming the division of Andhra Pradesh "undemocratic and unscientific". The Andhra Pradesh party had pulled out of the Modi government and the NDA earlier this year after the latter denied its demand of special category status to the state.