Hyderabad, May 09: The formation of a separate State was possible only through passage of a bill in Parliament, Justice Srikrishna said today and made it clear that his committee would submit its report only to the Central Government.
The State Assembly cannot make such a decision, he said.
Justice Srikrishna was responding to a query by mediapersons on the statement of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in the Rajya Sabha yesterday.
Chidambaram had said the solution to the separate Telangana movement lay in Hyderabad and not with the Central Government.
“Ultimately, it is Parliament that passes the bill required for formation of a State and not the State Assembly,’’ Justice Srikrishna said.
Noting that Chidambaram might have made the statement to “avoid a controversy’’, he stressed that the opinions of locals would have a vital bearing on such decisions.
The committee members, who lent a patient ear to representatives of the Telangana Intellectuals Forum, Telangana Movement (1969) Founders’ Forum and the Telangana Development Forum, concluded the current round of hearings and left for New Delhi.
Numerous questions were posed to various organisations, such as why leaders from Telangana could not succeed in securing adequate funds or facilities for their region whereas those from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema had managed to do so. Allaying apprehensions that some representations were being discarded, the committee said everything was being preserved.
“We received more than one lakh representations, including postcards and single-page letters. All these representations are the property of the Central Government and will be preserved for future reference,’’ said Justice Srikrishna.
Admitting that the committee was looking for options other than separate Telangana or united Andhra Pradesh, he said: “Not all things can be in black and white. We are also looking at grey areas’’.
During its next visit, the committee will hold hearings with the Seemandhra Telugu Desam Party Forum, Telangana TDP Forum, the All-India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), NTR TDP president N Lakshmi Parvathi, Jamaate- Islami Hind, Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) and Samaikhyandhra Joint Action Committee at the Lake View guesthouse on May 10 and 11.
On May 12, it will interact with representatives of the TDP Samaikhyandhra Forum, Telangana Freedom Fighter Forum and Telangana Cultural Association at the Dr Marri Channa Reddy Human Resource Development Institute of Andhra Pradesh in Jubilee Hills.
–Agencies