Hyderabad, July 30: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N Chandrababu Naidu, who has been consistently targeted by the ruling Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for his prolonged silence and for encouraging double standards within the party on the issue of separate statehood for Telangana, seems to have exposed himself for further attack with his statement on Friday that only his word on the issue should be construed as party’s official stand.
“What I speak only should be taken as the party’s official stand, and what other leaders from my party say are purely their personal view,” he told mediapersons in Hyderabad, referring to the stand taken by his party colleagues from different regions of the state on the bifurcation issue.
Naidu has been consistently accused by Telangana leaders, including some from his own party, of not taking a stand on the separate statehood issue. He had also maintained silence on the competitive agitations for and against the separate state launched by his party leaders in Telangana and Seemandhra.
Naidu’s assertion that his was the final word on the bifurcation issue without really spelling out his stand would, in fact, only provide further fodder to the Telangana leaders to attack him.
Reacting to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s recent advice to the TDP to bring about consensus on the contentious issue, Naidu said: “The onus to take a decision on the demand for separate Telangana state lies with the UPA government. It is the responsibility of the Central government to take a decision as it alone has the authority. It can’t push the blame on TDP or other parties.”
The former chief minister said: “We passed a resolution in our party’s annual general meeting in May clearly spelling out our stand on Telangana. It is for the Centre alone to take a call since it alone has the authority and the responsibility.”
-Agencies