Hyderabad, March 05: The Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, brushed aside rumours that President’s Rule will soon be imposed on the state. Speaking to newsmen in his Assembly chambers on Friday, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy said, “Where is the question of Constitutional machinery breaking down in the state? Why should there be President’s Rule? Is it so easy to get this approved by Parliament?” He chided the scribe who put the question and added, “Don’t worry, everything is alright here, don’t believe the rumours.”
Referring to criticism from National Opposition Leader Sushma Swaraj yesterday in the Lok Sabha on the Telangana issue, the Chief Minister said, “Why should she say that I am not getting my monthly salary due to the non-cooperation agitation by the Telangana employees? That’s a trivial thing, it doesn’t warrant a leader like Sushma referring to it in the Lok Sabha,” the CM said.
About the public examinations for Intermediate, Degree and SSC students, the Chief Minister gave a firm assurance: “All the scheduled examinations will be conducted and students and parents need not worry about this.” He said the government would announce its decision on Saturday after consulting all the representatives of political and other organisations about whether to conduct the Intermediate examination scheduled for March 10 in view of the ‘Million March’ programme by TJAC on the same day.
He reiterated his appeal to all T organisations and political parties to put all their agitations on hold and wait for the central government’s announcement on the Telangana issue. He said government employees should not cause any inconvenience to the people of Telangana in the name of agitations.
He said due to the non-cooperation agitation launched by the T-employees and disbursement of 11 lakh social welfare pensions, 2.4 lakh service pensions have been affected. Similarly, the PDS came to a grinding halt in Telangana region and 50 lakh familes are not getting their monthly ration. “Many developmental and welfare activities are also affected. I appeal to them not to let their agitations cause hardship to the T people,” the CM said.
–Agencies