Hyderabad, February 22: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday appealed to Telangana protagonists not to hamper development and welfare programmes, and maintained that it was for the Centre to take a decision on the contentious statehood issue.
“The Telangana demand is not new and it has been there for the past 50 years. The Centre appointed Srikrishna Committee to look into the issue and based on its recommendations and consultations with all political parties it will take a decision.
“The state government will implement whatever decision the Centre takes on Telangana,” Reddy said replying to the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the state Assembly this afternoon.
The Chief Minister completed his reply in just about 12 minutes even as the TRS MLAs stormed the Speaker’s podium and raised slogans demanding that the House pass a resolution seeking creation of Telangana state.
Referring to the recent ‘Rachchabanda’ (mass contact programme) organised by the government across the state, the Chief Minister pointed out that it was a massive success despite strong opposition by Telangana protagonists.
“The programme reflected the real aspirations of the people in getting their grievances redressed. More than 66 lakh new petitions were received during the three-week long programme from people seeking various welfare measures. Our government is committed to implement all welfare programmes initiated since 2004,” Kiran asserted.
–Agencies