Protests to greet PM in Vizag on Friday

Visakhapatnam: Protests seeking special category status to Andhra Pradesh will greet Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he lands in this port city on Friday to address a public rally.

The ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Congress, Left parties, Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the ‘Prateekya Hoda Sadhana Samithi’ – a group fighting for special category status, trade unions and various other organizations have called for protests during Modi’s visit.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday asked TDP leaders to stage the protests with black flags, black badges and black balloons.

The TDP chief reiterated that Modi has no right to visit the state without fulfilling the commitments he made.

Barring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the YSR Congress, all parties had staged protest during Modi’s visit to Guntur on February 10. This was Modi’s first visit to the state after the TDP pulled out of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in March last year over the issue of special status.