Hyderabad, January 02: At a time when the decibel levels of the Congress leaders’ voices in support of united Andhra Pradesh are falling, the party’s staunch integrationist and Endowments Minister, G Venkata Reddy, has brought to the centre-stage, the demand for constitution of a second States’ Reorganisation Commission (SRC) which is repulsive to those seeking statehood for Telangana.
Venkata Reddy raked up the issue at a news conference here today ahead of the all-party meeting in Delhi on January 5 to discuss the mechanism and road map (for formation of Telangana), maintaining that the Congress had never promised a separate Telangana state and that all through the years since 2001 the party had been saying that the issue could at best be referred to an SRC. “f a second SRC is not acceptable to Telangana protagonists, the Centre could consider constituting a commission with judges exclusively to look into the demand for separate state and declare that whatever verdict that the commission will pronounce will be binding on the government.’’ Appearing keen to throw his oar in and spoil the festive spirit pervading the separatists that Telangana is not very far, he said he did not consider Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s first statement that the `process for formation of Telangana state has begun’ as the Congress’ line and insisted that it was the home minister’s personal viewpoint and was threrefore not binding on the Congress.
“Our party president Sonia Gandhi had not said a word on the issue to indicate a departure from the party’s stand,’’ he said.
Asked if Chidambaram had made the statement without the approval of Sonia Gandhi, Venkata Reddy said he did not know.
Substantiating his argument that the Congress had never promised Telangana with the support of a few documents, the endowments minister, who takes pride in calling himself an integrationist, said that he was only trying to reiterate the Congress’ stand since Telangana Rahstra Samiti (TRS) was saying that the Congress had promised a separate state.
Venkata Reddy, referring to the statement made by the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy in the Assembly on February 12 last announcing the formation of a committee to discuss the issue with all stakeholders, said that it had vindicated the party’s stand ahead of general elections in April 2009. Even in 2004 the State Congress had said in its election manifesto that the issue should be referred to the second SRC after taking into consideration the resolution adopted by the CWC in 2001.
“Even the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA did not promise outright creation of Telangana. It only said that UPA would consider the demand at an appropriate time after due consultations and consensus,’’ the minister said.
–Agencies