Consultation, Not Consensus, Required for T: Aji
HYDERABAD: Criticising union home minister P Chidambaram’s statement that the government was trying to form a consensus among the parties over the Telangana issue, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh on Wednesday said that only consultation and not consensus was required to create a separate Telangana state. The central government, through a Bill in the Parliament, could divide the state, he added. Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Singh alleged that the United Andhra movement was a temporary one sponsored by politicians. “If Telangana is formed, there would be trouble in other regions for one or two months. But if a separate state is not created, there would be permanent trouble in the region,” he said.
On the issue of Hyderabad, the RLD chief said that though Gujaratis had invested heavily in Mumbai, they did not claim rights over the city when Maharashtra was divided. Thus the claim over Hyderabad by the people of Andhra did not hold, he said.
Singh also appealed to all Telangana activists to work through a single platform to achieve a separate state. He also pointed out that there was no need to adopt a resolution in the state Assembly over division of the state. The RLD chief assured that he would support the formation of Telangana, should the Bill be introduced in Parliament. Suspended TDP MLA Nagam Janardhan Reddy said that consensus was never an issue when several new states were created earlier. He asked TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu to honour his politburo resolution and convince Andhra leaders on the need to create a separate state. “Throwing the blame on Congress and sitting pretty is not correct on the part of Naidu,” Nagam said.
Freedom fighter Konda Lakshman Bapuji asked Naidu to convince Andhra leaders and to remove any leader who opposes the TDP’s politburo resolution. He added that Telangana issue is getting delayed due to lack of unanimity among the protagonists.