Nod to T bill: Kavuri slams union cabinet

Hyderabad: The Union Minister for Textiles Kavuri Sambasiva Rao on Saturday faulted the Union Cabinet for approving the State Reorganisation Bill, and said that he would oppose it at every stage including in the parliament. Speaking to media persons, Rao said that the Union Cabinet had committed a “grave mistake,” by giving its nod to the Draft Bill.

He said the views of the Assembly must be respected before tabling the T Bill in the parliament. He said that in a federal system, the centre has certain powers and it cannot go ahead without taking the views of the people into consideration. Rao minced no words in expressing his dissatisfaction over the manner in which the cabinet turned down the suggestions made by the Seemandhra Ministers when the draft bill was brought before the cabinet as table item.

He said that the Seemandhra Ministers had sought time to read the recommendations of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to understand the implications. “It is not a novel where one can quickly go through and form an opinion and hence we sought more time but unfortunately, our plea was not accepted,” he said.

Rao said he had put forth three issues to be considered. It included according UT status for Hyderabad for 10 years, as everyone had a role in its development and unlike other states the development here was concentrated in and around Hyderabad. There were over 450 institutions including public sector units, research labs and vital installations located in Hyderabad, while Seemandhra region was totally dependent on agriculture.

He said they had told the government that if Hyderabad was given UT status then education and employment guarantee would be there for 10 years for Seemandhra students and employees and in the meantime, they could develop the residuary state and go there. That would have also helped the Seemandhra people in convincing the people of Seemandhra that everything was not lost, he added. Referring to the issue of Bhadrachalam division, he said it was part of Seemandhra till 1957.

In 1959 through a GO 111 it was merged with Khammam district. Merger of this division with East Godavari was important to complete the Polavaram project but even this was not accepted by the government. Hence, he decided not to be a party to the cabinet decision and asked the centre and Congress party High Command to reconsider the decision to bifurcate the state.

Rao said, Telangana leaders, who had cited backwardness as reason for their demand, changed their track after Srikrishna Committee's report and took up slogan of self-rule, self respect and sentiment. If that is the consideration for creation of new states, tomorrow, another government might divide the state, where it had no support, which would be fatal for national integrity," he warned.

When asked what the Seemandhra Ministers propose to do now, he said, all Union Ministers and MPs from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions would come to a decision on the future course of action if the centre tried to push through the division process without considering their pleas, he said.

Replying to another question, he said he was ready to resign if that would help stop the bifurcation. Since BJP is supporting the bill, the resignations by the Seemandhra Ministers may not lead to crisis in the government, he felt.