RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: Senior politician and former Rajamahendravaram MP Undavalli Arun Kumar has written an open letter to Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan, urging him to address the long-standing injustices caused by the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
In his letter on Tuesday, Undavalli pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill was passed in Parliament on February 18, 2014, without any meaningful discussion or a proper division of votes to gauge support or opposition. “You are well aware of how the State was bifurcated,” he remarked in the letter.
Mentioning his decade-long legal battle in the Supreme Court, which began with a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the State bifurcation, Undavalli expressed frustration over the delay in filing counter by the Union government in response.
Citing Pawan Kalyan’s Fact-Finding Committee formed on February 18, 2018, Undavalli reminded him that the committee had determined the arrears owed to Andhra Pradesh by the Union government to be Rs 74,542 crore.
He also recounted his meeting with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on July 16, 2018, during which it was decided that the State would file an affidavit in the Supreme Court regarding the financial distress caused by the bifurcation. However, he noted that no action was taken following his meeting. He brought up an unexpected turn of events in November 2022, when senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing the Andhra Pradesh government in the Supreme Court, argued that revisiting the bifurcation case after so many years would be akin to “stirring a hornet’s nest.” Singhvi had suggested closing the case altogether.
However, on February 23, 2023, the Andhra Pradesh government took a different stance by filing a counter affidavit supporting Undavalli’s arguments and detailing the financial and constitutional losses incurred due to the bifurcation.
Undavalli called on the Deputy Chief Minister to facilitate discussions in both Houses of Parliament about the irregularities in the bifurcation process and the resulting injustice to Andhra Pradesh. Additionally, he requested Pawan to expedite the resolution of the pending Supreme Court case.
Whether Pawan Kalyan will respond to Undavalli’s detailed letter and its pointed references to the Fact-Finding Committee remains to be seen.