On a day when AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad poured a bucketful of cold water on the hopes of the people of Telangana, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu wrote his much-awaited letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but without supplying any clarity on his party’s stance on a separate state for the region.
In the brief letter, released Wednesday night, the TDP chief demanded an all-party meet on Telangana but did not made it clear what his party stance would be in that meeting. Instead, it spent many words in blaming the Centre and the Congress for the present situation in the state.
“The approach adopted by the Government of India has caused enormous damage to our state. In the best interests of the people of Andhra Pradesh, our party urges you to kindly resolve this issue on priority by calling for an all-party meeting to settle the issue across the table,” Naidu urged the PM.
Recall the electoral alliance forged by the Congress and the TRS in 2004, Naidu said that though the Congress won the election in 2004, it did not keep its promise to the voters of Telangana.
Further, the UPA government appointed a committee under Pranab Mukherjee to examine the issue. The TDP had conveyed its opinion on the Telangana issue to that committee through a letter on Oct. 18, 2008, Naidu said.
Later, in the aftermath of developments consequent to an announcement by the then Union home minister P Chidambaram in December 2009, the government of India appointed the Srikrishna Commission to examine the issue. Though the commission submitted its report in December 2010, the Centre has not yet taken any decision on it, the letter pointed out.
On the other hand, the Union home minister has been stating that the opinion of all political parties would be elicited. But the minister himself has stated in Parliament recently that the Congress too has not given its opinion on the issue.
“Thus the Congress has admittedly abdicated its responsibility to resolve this issue. The Congress party of late has been reportedly having secret parleys with select parties, exposing its game plan to malign the TDP by joining hands with parties like TRS and YSRC keeping the 2014 polls in mind,” Naidu alleged.
The Congress and TRS criticised Naidu for not clarifying his party’s stance on Telangana in the letter. “He has given the letter. But there’s nothing in that letter. Naidu did not give clarity over his party’s stance on Telangana. The TDP chief has only thrown TDP leaders from Telangana into more confusion,” said Congress MP Madhu Yashki Goud.