Call for peace, sanity

• Fervent appeal by Chiru, Naidu and Botcha
• All are party to the bifurcation division
• Chiru wants Hyd as second national capital

Hyderabad: With the agitations getting intensified in Seemandhra region and the number of resignations increasing, the three mainstream leaders from the region, Union minister of State K Chiranjeevi, leader of opposition N Chandrababu Naidu and PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana made a fervent appeal to their respective party leaders and elected representatives to strive for cementing the emotional bonds of the people from the two regions by bringing an end to the protests demanding United Andhra Pradesh.

All these three leaders made it amply clear that the Congress high command was firm in its decision to go ahead with its move to bifurcate the state and hence it was time to focus on protecting the rights of their respective regions. Chiranjeevi said that opposition parties were levelling baseless allegations that the Congress party had taken unilateral decision only to misguide the people. All the parties which were now criticizing the Congress had given their acceptance in favour of bifurcation of the state. The Congress party took the decision to divide the state after detailed consultations with leaders of all the parties on a number of occasions.

“All parties have equal responsibility in the decision and should consider themselves to be equal partners. It is now time for all of us who at some point of time had pleaded for integrated state to see that full justice is done to the people of Seemandhra regions,” the minister said. Chiranjeevi said he was of the opinion that Hyderabad should become a permanent capital for both the states and not for just five or ten years.

He said another option was to declare Hyderabad as the second national capital as suggested by the father of the Indian Constitution B R Ambedkar. “ I will make this point when the Bill would come up for discussion in parliament,” he added.

He said all the Congress leaders would put pressure on the government to see that proper justice was done in sharing of water, revenue and other resources. “Separation is always painful but at the same time people should maintain restraint and should not resort to any extreme measures. The political parties too should not utilize the situation for narrow political gains. If the political parties are really opposed to bifurcation they should at least at this point make a clear and categorical statement that they want the state to remain united.

They cannot say so since all of them had agreed for bifurcation,” Chiranjeevi said. The minister said when they met the AICC in-charge of state affairs Digvijay Singh, he told them that a high level committee would be constituted which would be headed by someone like A K Antony. Digvijay suggested that all the public’s representatives should put forward their demands before the committee. The leaders should not indulge in cheap politics. He also appealed to the youth not to commit suicide.

The Leader of opposition N Chandrababu Naidu told his party leaders that they were free to agitate for protection of the rights of their respective regions but not for united state. Botcha said that during 60 years of united Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad had emerged as an industrial hub and 70 per cent of employment opportunities in the state were being generated from the city alone and it was this factor that was agitating the people of Seemandhra region. He assured that full justice would be done to the people of Seemandhra and all their rights would be well protected.

Calling upon the people of Seemandhra region to call off their agitation, Botcha said all political parties barring CPM and MIM had categorically stated that they were in favour of bifurcation of the state. These parties had expressed their views consistently from 2009 when the Rosaiah Committee was constituted as well as at three other all-party meetings that were convened by the centre in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Even the MIM which had opposed to the bifurcation had now welcomed it, Botcha said. All these parties had agreed to the fact that Telangana region was backward and that the sentiment for separate state was high in that region. In fact they had been alleging that it was the Congress party which was delaying a decision while all had given their opinions on it.

When asked if that were the case why is that the Congress MPs, MLAs and ministers were resigning, he said the Seemandhra leaders had always been against bifurcation of the state and there was no change in their viewpoint. But as a national party, it had taken a decision and he was sure that once their apprehensions were addressed, they too would agree and abide by the decision of the high command. Botcha said that this decision should not be viewed as victory or defeat of one region or the other.