Bifurcation not a trivial issue: CM to Prez, PM

• No proper homework done on so important an issue
• Flays taking up T issue as a Table Item at Cabinet meet
• Due process of referring to Ministries first waived
• Sri Krishna Committee report not discussed at all
• Refer T resolution to Assembly as was done while creating three new States
• Nowhere existing capital shared with new State
• Fate of the Article 371 (D) is a great concern, not discussed

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Friday sought the intervention of President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to help create a congenial atmosphere before taking forward the process of bifurcation of the State. Kiran in his letter said he expects the Government of India to follow established practices and conventions and, as a first step, refer the matter to the State Assembly for appropriate resolution before the Bill was sent to the President of India.

Kiran said the people in the State were upset with the way the decisions were being taken and the process being pushed through ignoring all conventions and procedures. Official statements being made by Union Ministers on behalf of the Government of India were adding to the confusion.

He said that a strong belief was gaining ground that the Centre was ignoring majority people’s opinion. Recalling the statement of the then Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in December 2009, Kiran said that Chidambaram had stated that a resolution would be moved in the State Assembly.

According to the Chief Minister, the Centre had added fuel to the fire by bringing the Cabinet Note for creation of a new State as a Table item. An important item having serious implications on the lives of crores of people had become a trivial item for GoI.

The Note, he said, was also brought before Cabinet meeting apparently waiving due consultation process with the related Ministries in a hurried manner on the pretext that the composition of Group of Ministers would consult all the important Ministries.

He said he was shocked to note that the subsequent orders issued by the Cabinet Secretariat excluded the crucial Ministries like Water Resources, Urban Development, Power, HRD and Planning Commission that were listed in the Cabinet note. All these short-cut methods had raised doubts in the minds of the people about the fairness of the process and justness of actions, Kiran said. He said that the Prime Minister being a victim of partition, someone who was respected all over the world for his scholarly brilliance, someone who appreciates the economic implications of the political decisions and someone with impeccable personal integrity, would understand the feeling, desperation and discrimination in the manner in which, the whole exercise was being carried out and would take necessary remedial measures. Alleging that the process of division was being done without doing proper homework by Government of India, Kiran said it was creating anxiety and apprehensions in the minds of majority of the population. He said the Srikrishna Committee Report was never discussed or debated in the Parliament nor were its recommendations considered.

Secondly, the Antony Committee appointed by the party did not complete its task of consulting various stakeholders. Chief Minister said he failed to understand why the GoI was not willing to wait till the committee submitted its report. The issue was not even discussed in the Parliament.

Kiran further said that if adequate homework was not done and if the fate of the Article 371 (D) of the Constitution was not decided, then Government employees and students would face serious consequences.

This issue needs consultations and legal examination. He said the major concern of the people of Seemandhra region was about sharing of irrigation water and management of major irrigation dams.