Jagan meets Pawar, Uddhav

Hyderabad: The Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar assured the YSRCP president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy that he would place his views on the issue of dividing the state before his party’s working committee.

Talking to media after the meeting Jagan, Sharad Pawar said, "NCP took a decision nine years ago to support the idea of Telangana. Jagan Reddy is aware of our stand. But he has raised two major issues. One, for any decision about the bifurcation of any state, the state legislative assembly has to be taken into confidence. "His suggestion is that the Centre should not take any decision by bypassing the state legislature. The second issue which he has raised is that Article 3 of the Constitution... time has come to give (it) a second thought Jagan said," Pawar told reporters.

The NCP President said that he was not in a position to take any decision immediately. Replying to a question, Pawar said that there were no discussions about any political alignments or electoral adjustments during the meeting. Pawar took a dig at the journalists saying that he had seen some reports about Jagan’s search for new partners and this shows the overall level of journalists, he said.

Jagan said he tried to convince Pawar that if a person of his stature keeps quiet and lets the bifurcation take place, it will not stop with Andhra Pradesh alone and sought his support for amendment to Article 3 of the constitution.

He also drew the attention of Pawar towards the plight faced by farmers, in the state who were affected by the recent cylones - Phailin and Helen. The Union Minister, he said, assured to extend all possible help to the affected farmers.

After meeting Pawar, Jagan drove to 'Matoshree', the residence of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.

While Jagan was coming out of Matoshree, a group of Pro T activists tried to stop the convoy of YSRCP president. Later when the convoy reached a traffic signal another group of T students tried to gherao him and shouted slogans. The traffic police dispersed the students making way for the convoy to move ahead.