Cracks have emerged in the Left unity over the creation of a separate Telangana state with the CPI(M) and RSP opposing it and the CPI and Forward Bloc in favour. While the major Left parties are principally opposed to the creation of new states, the Forward Bloc on Wednesday sought the creation of a separate state of Vidarbha and the establishing of the second State Reorganisation Committee to “find a justifiable solution on all pending demands of small states once and for all”. The CPI(M), meanwhile, also made its opposition clear to any demand for division of West Bengal.
However, a day after the Congress-led UPA government decided to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh to carve out a separate Telangana state, all four Left parties joined hands to urge the people of Andhra Pradesh to maintain harmony in the wake of the government’s decision to go ahead with its formation.
Maintaining that the Congress decision on Telangana has been prodded by the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, the CPI(M) politburo said, “The decision to create Telangana seems to have been impelled by the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. It will give a fillip to demands for separate states in other places.” The party, which has been opposing the Telangana demand, said it has “always stood for the integrity of the states based on the democratic principle of linguistic states”.
It also accused the Congress and UPA government of taking a decision to divide Andhra Pradesh and creating Telangana “after long procrastination and more than two years after the report submitted by the Srikrishna Committee.” CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat earlier said statehood for Telangana would spur such demands in other parts of the country.