Hyderabad, February 10: The Budget session of the Assembly, scheduled to begin on Feb 15, is likely to witness uproarious scenes over the demand for bifurcation of the State. The Central Government’s decision on the terms of reference for the Srikrishna Committee on Telangana will be the trigger.
Suspecting that the committee’s terms of reference will not be in favour of Telangana, several Telangana Congress MLAs want to boycott the Assembly session. They want the Congress high command to `understand the feelings’ of the people of the region.
Gajwel MLA P Narsa Reddy, along with former minister T Jeevan Reddy, threaten to boycot the Assembly session if the Centre fails to frame the terms of reference in favour of Telangana. “People of the region are losing their patience over the delay in announcing the terms of reference of the Srikrishna committee,’’ they say.
Admitting that people doubt the sincerity of the party on the statehood issue, they fear that the careers of the agitating students will get affected if the Telangana process is delayed further. “Andhra and Telangana leaders should not treat Telangana people’s silence as a weakness.
How can the Budget be approved in the Assembly without the support of Telangana MLAs?’’ they argue.
Former Assembly speaker KR Suresh Reddy urges all political leaders to counsel the agitating students to avoid loss of an academic year.
Students have to play a key role after formation of Telangana state.
“Never in the past 50 years has the Central Government made such a clear statement on Telangana. There is need for political parties to create confidence in students. I am hopeful that the terms of reference will be in favour of Telangana,’’ he says.
Disagreeing with the Telangana Congress MLAs’ threat to boycott the Assembly session, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and Rajya Sabha member K Keshava Rao says that he would like to caution them against resorting to such a hasty step. There is nothing wrong with the leaders and students’ anxiety to have an early solution to the Telangana tangle. Though the Srikrishna Committee has no legal validity, its information and material will be helpful to the Centre and Parliament in taking a decision. “I am very hopeful that the committee’s terms of reference will be in favour of Telangana and are expected to be announced in another two to three days,’’ he adds.
TDP MLAs are also inclined to obstruct the Assembly proceedings if the Centre fails to announce the terms of reference before the commencement of the Assembly session.
Senior member and TDLP deputy leader N Janardhan Reddy asserts that the Telangana TDP MLAs will not allow the House to function till the Centre announces the terms of reference of the Srikrishna Committee.
T here is no need to have any doubts on the committee’s constitution since it is a follow-up on the December 9 statement of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, he observes.
He says Telangana MLAs will convene a separate Assembly session if they are suspended from the House. The MLAs will `elect’ Congress senior member and minister J Geeta Reddy as `Telangana chief minister’ and will ask the Rosaiah Government to allocate a separate budget for the region, he says.
Government whip and Andhra & Rayalaseema Congress MLAs and MLCs Forum convener S Sailajanath hopes MLAs from the two regions will not resort to boycotting the session even if the terms of reference are not in favour of the people of Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.
He, however, exudes confidence that the Centre will decide on the State’s future only after having consultations with all the stakeholders and arriving at a consensus. Former chief minister the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy had already made a statement in the Assembly on the issues to be discussed before deciding on the State’s future, he recalls.
——-Agencies