Hyderabad, January 02: TDP leaders from Andhra today tried to trivialise the demand for Telangana by comparing it with similar aspirations “in at least 12 States in the country.’’ Speaking to reporters here, TDP leader Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu said that given this background, the Congress should first spell out its stand on smaller States as such. “Telangana cannot be viewed as an isolated case,’’ he stressed. Even though Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati herself has offered to introduce a resolution in the State Assembly to divide the largest State into four, the Congress not responded, Muddukrishnama Naidu noted.
While the Congress discussed the T-issue in its core committee, it has not been placed before the Union Cabinet or before the State Assembly. How, then, could Union Home Minister Chidambaram declare that the decision to initiate the process for a separate Telangana was that of the Central Government, he wondered, and remarked: “This shows the bankruptcy of the Congress.’’ He also found fault with the Congress for throwing the blame on TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu.
“The Congress is in power at the Centre and in the State. If it wants to divided the State it can do so straightaway,’’ he said.
“If the Congress gives power of attorney to Naidu, then he will decide the matter.’’ He charged the Congress and the TRS with putting on a drama to gull the people. Had the government “amended the Constitution stating that Hyderabad was not a free-zone’’, the TRS chief would not have started his indefinite fast and there would have been “no problem in the State’’, he maintained.
Muddukrishnama Naidu blamed the Congress for “all the trouble’’ and said it had been “hoodwinking the people right from 1969’’.
Another leader, K Yerran Naidu, said the Centre was sowing confusion and trying to create rift among Opposition parties.
–Agencies