Hyderabad: Ending speculation that the Centre may postpone the creation of the new state of Telangana because of the ongoing agitation against it by the Seemandhra region, Union finance minister P. Chidambaram on Monday made it clear in the Rajya Sabha that the Union government will consider all issues and concerns, including the status of Hyderabad, before completing the process of creating the separate state.
Due Constitutional process will be followed in carving out Telangana state, including the issues discussed at length by the Justice Srikrishna Committee, he said. Replying to a special debate that went on for more than four hours, Chidambaram said that the Union home ministry is at present engaged in preparing a special note on all the aspects that were involved in the process, and the Union Cabinet will then take a decision on creating Telangana state.
“Once we (the government) take a decision, I believe a comprehensive debate can take place in Parliament,” he said. Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said he has doubts about whether the government will indeed create Telangana state. The finance minister replied that the Union government will take the decision and it will not be like the NDA regime, which took more than two years to create Uttarakhand and Jharkhand states. “It (Telangana) will take less than that,” Chidambaram said.
The government has made its stand clear that it will create Telangana state, but the process may take a little more than the “couple of months” that some Congressmen predicted.
T creation may take more time
Hyderabad: It has now become clear that the Union home ministry will prepare a note for the Cabinet (how much time that will take nobody knows), the Cabinet will then “consider” the issues raised in the note, and then begin the implementation of the decision.
All this is going to take much more time than envisaged. Chidambaram also emphasised that all political parties had expressed their opinions on Telangana.
“They have been accusing the Congress of not announcing its decision and delaying, and when the Congress took the decision you have been criticising it. When the TD takes a decision on Telangana it is democratic; how come when the Congress takes the decision it is autocratic?” he asked.
He also reminded the House of the BJP’s shifting stand on Telangana issue. “I have the letter of the then home minister L.K. Advani refusing Telangana state demand in 2002. After that, the BJP changed its stand and demanded that Telangana should be created.
I do not find anything wrong in this as some parties have expressed their opinions and subsequently changed them. But it is wrong to attribute motives to the Union government of not consulting anyone on this. When I was Union home minister I conducted two meetings and took the views. It is also wrong to say there was no proper home work done on this.”
Holding up the Justice Srikrishna Committee report, Chidambaram said, “We appointed the committee that has dealt with several issues. We considered all these aspects before proceeding on creation of Telangana.”
The Union minister said that the Cabinet will look into issues of water, irrigation, power and the status of Hyderabad as joint capital for 10 years.
Opposition parties criticise Congress over T-state
Hyderabad: The key point made by Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha on the Telangana issue during the debate on Monday, was that the government had made the decision in haste and without addressing the many issues concerning the impact on the Seemandhra region.
Initiating the debate, Telugu Desam’s Y.S. Chowdary said that the government had created a civil war-like situation in the state. “It is an unfortunate decision, announced in an autocratic manner. The Congress communicated the decision in a hasty manner,” he said.
Venkaiah Naidu of the BJP accused the government of taking the decision in a hurry and without doing its homework. He said this is evident because Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and several ministers of the Congress government in the state have objected to the decision taken by their own party, and the CM himself has said that several issues have to be addressed before implementing the decision.
Naresh Agarwal of the Samajwadi Party demanded that the Centre withdraw its decision on Telangana. “The Centre plans to divide all states, including Uttar Pradesh, for political purposes,” he charged. D. Raja of the CPI said AP is facing a severe crisis on account of the decision and there is uncertainty across the state.
Kanimozhi of the DMK said the fear of the people should be addressed. All genuine concerns have to be addressed before the division of the state. K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao of the Congress wanted a discussion on the Justice Srikrishna Committee report. “The late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy at no point of time supported the division of the state. He only suggested it should be done after addressing concerns of all stake holders and he appointed the K. Rosaiah Committee for this.”
Sitaram Yechury (CPM) said that the Congress has been playing with the issue for the last 44 years. “The CPM has been against division of states from the beginning. AP was formed on linguistic states principle suggested by Motilal Nehru in 1928. The Congress is only interested in politicising the issue, otherwise why did it wait from 2009 till now to decide the issue?” he said.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi rejected the demand for division and addressed the issue by bringing in Article 371 (D) to protect the interests of all regions. Trinamul’s Sekhar Rai wanted the decision to be revoked as it will only fuel similar agitations and demands in other states across the nation.
Dr Mythraeyan (AIADMK) also accused the Congress of taking a decision to gain political advantage. “Why did the government ignore the Justice Srikrishna Committee report discussed in Parliament? Why did the government take the decision on Telangana only now?” he queried.
Veerendra Prasad of the Asom Gana Parishad said, “Asom is burning because of your decision. It was calm before the decision on Telangana, but once the decision was announced there have been mass agitations across Asom.”
Biswajit of the Asom Bodo People’s Front said the creation of Telangana state has raised hopes that similar demands by other states will be acceded to. “I request the Centre to declare Bodoland a state also,” he said.