A day after the TRS had categorically stated that it would oppose any proposal to detach Hyderabad from Telangana, Union minister of textiles Kavuri Sambasiva Rao demanded on Monday that Hyderabad be made a Union Territory or a separate state before dividing Andhra Pradesh.
“Our first priority is to request our party high command to keep the state undivided. If at all the state is to be divided, Hyderabad should be made a UT or a separate state to give equal rights to people of all regions over the city. In such case, both Seemandhra and Telangana states should be asked to develop their own capitals.”
The one-time United Andhra protagonist, who had softened his stance on Telangana after being made a Union minister, on Monday surprisingly went all-out against the decision of the Congress Working Committee to bifurcate the state.
While addressing mediapersons in Delhi, the Congress veteran divulged that his party high command had taken note of the intensity of the ongoing agitation in Seemandhra for state’s unity. “We believe our party leadership will change its stance. All the nine Union ministers from Seemandhra are ready to quit their posts for the sake of united AP. However, we are confident that our party leadership will change its stance as we have told them how a united state would be beneficial to the people of all regions.”
If division is inevitable, then making Hyderabad a Union Territory or a separate state could be the only solution to appease the people of Andhra and Rayalaseema, he said.
“Hyderabad has been transformed into a large metropolis only because it has happened to be the capital of united state. Thinking that it is their own place, people of Andhra and Rayalaseema never objected to the successive efforts of the successive governments to set up various public sector units in and around Hyderabad. People of Seemandhra are therefore not ready to give it up for any reason,” he said.
The Union minister divulged that they would clearly convey these views to the Antony Committee at their meeting in Delhi on Tuesday.