YS Jagan to go on indefinite fast

YSR Congress party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy will commence an indefinite fast in Hyderabad from Saturday to protest the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh by carving out a Telangana state.

He held a press meet at his Lotus Pond residence on Friday afternoon in Hyderabad. Talking to the media he said that he would fast in front of the YSR Congress office to demand that the central government should take back its decision. Jagan, as the MP from Kadapa is popularly known, accused the Congress of dividing the state to earn votes in elections.

He appealed to the country and all political parties to stand up against this "injustice", saying the central government will start dividing other states too in a similar "arbitrary" manner.

"Is it justifiable to split the state without an assembly resolution? What kind of democracy we are living in when people intentionally choose to ignore the assembly? Why is it different when it comes to Andhra Pradesh?" he asked, and pointed out that states in the past were divided after their respective assemblies had passed resolutions.

Jagan said the state's division would lead to sever water scarcity in Seemandhra.

He wondered how a group of ministers can show a solution to sharing of river waters when existing agreements had failed to address inter-state disputes.