Hands off Hyd, Jaipal tells Centre

• T Cong leaders meet at Jaipal’s house, finalise brief to GoM today
• Joint capital for a limited period, but Centre should stay away
• Jaipal quotes Ambedkar to reject Jagan’s demand to amend Article 3
• He wants Centre to address power shortage in Telangana
• Also wants Article 371-D to continue

New Delhi: Union Science & Technology Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Sunday declared that the Centre’s control over Hyderabad was unacceptable and the Telangana Congress stood by the Congress Working Committee (CWC) Resolution of July 30, which approved Telangana with 10 districts and Hyderabad as capital. The same was approved by the Union Cabinet on October 3. There could be no compromise on it, he said.

This would be part of the submission to be made to the GoM on Monday by Union Ministers from Telangana – Union S&T Minister S Jaipal Reddy, Road Transport and Highways Minister Sarvey Satyanarayana and Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment P Balram Naik.

After a brainstorming session, the Union Ministers from Telangana had with the Telangana Congress Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, MPs and other leaders at the residence of Jaipal Reddy said the submissions to be made to the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Telangana had been finalised.

Jaipal Reddy rejected the suggestions that joint capital would require Central control of Hyderabad. The CWC Resolution and the Union Cabinet did not mention it. This means that while Telangana would have control over Hyderabad, the City still could serve as joint capital, without any of the functions requiring to be handed over to the Centre. Andhra Pradesh Deuty Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha had already made his submissions to the GoM on Telangana, where he wanted the duration of joint capital reduced from 10 years to 5 years.

Endorsing the view, Jaipal Reddy favoured that Hyderabad should be placed under the control of Telangana and Centre should have no say in it. This assumes significance as the Task Force headed by K Vijay Kumar had recommended that law and order should be in Central control and Hyderabad, which would be the joint capital, requires to be under the Centre, during such period. Jaipal Reddy argued that there was no such statutory requirement and even if there was such a necessity, suitable law could be enacted in this regard.

Reacting to YSRCP supremo Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s demand for amending Article 3 of the Constitution, Jaipal Reddy said Dr B R Ambedkar, who drafted the Constitution, was the one and the only intellectual of his kind. There was no one, who could match him to make such changes in the Constitution, he said.

Significantly, Jaipal Reddy acknowledged that creation of Telangana would result in power shortages in Telangana. He wanted the GoM to address the issue properly. He also wanted that Article 371-D of the Constitution should be continued, even after the creation of Telangana.

Those present in the brainstorming included the Union Ministers from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Ministers J Geetha Reddy, K Jana Reddy, D Sridhar Babu and Ramreddi Venkat Reddy, besides Bhatti Vikramarka, Mallu Ravi, Sudhakar Reddy, C Yadav Reddy and Ponnam Prabhakar.