Vijayawada: The AP government wants to follow the Japanese model of protest to mount pressure on the Centre to give the state special category status. Party leaders and government officials will plant saplings and clean the roads.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has suggested to the Opposition to follow suit, instead of calling bandhs and damaging public assets.

Briefing the media, Mr Naidu asked who would lose if the Opposition closed schools and damage buses. “Will the Centre hear your voice here,” he asked.

Rejecting the Opposition demand to lead an all-party delegation to Delhi, he said that all parties had demanded SCS in the Rajya Sabha. “Where is the need to lead an all-party delegation,” he asked.