(Image source from: Livemint)

Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Requests Amit Shah to 'Soften PM's Heart' on Special Category Status:- Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Friday met Union home minister Amit Shah and requested him to "soften PM's heart" on the issue of granting special category status to the Rs 2.58 lakh crore debt-ridden state.

The YSR Congress Party chief also said he would raise the demand in the first meeting of the governing council of the NITI Aayog, which is to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.

"I met the home minister to try and prevail upon him and also soften PM's heart on special category status...," Reddy told reporters after an hour-long meeting with Shah.

Reddy also urged the Centre to execute all the commitments made under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act.

Reddy met both Modi and Shah just before swearing in as chief minister on the special category issue. He had said his party could only request the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government and not "demand or command".

"Today, we might not get it (special category status). We have to be at somebody's mercy but I will remind him (Modi) again and again and someday things will change," Reddy had told the media after his first meeting with Modi.

Reddy on being asked if the post of deputy speaker in Lok Sabha was offered to YSRCP, he said, "Please don't speculate on all these things. First of all, there is no offer... We have not asked and we have not spoken. And neither any such proposal has come from any quarter. As of now, there is no conversation or talk on that."

In the 17th Lok Sabha elections, YSRCP won 22 parliamentary seats and also swept the assembly polls.

The party's parliamentary board meeting is likely to be held on Saturday.

By Sowmya Sangam