Leaders rush to meet President

Pranab’s Southern Sojourn coming to a close

Hyderabad: With the President Pranab Mukherjee’s 10-day southern sojourn set to conclude, Telangana and Seemandhra leaders made a beeline to Rashtrapati Nilayam on Sunday, and once again presented their arguments for and against the division of the state.

The President is scheduled to leave for New Delhi on Tuesday morning.

Among the leaders who called on the President separately were Deputy Speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah, former Minister P Shankar Rao, Telangana Congress and Telangana TDP MPs and five rebel Congress MPs. BJP Seemandhra politicos and Lok Satta party national president Jayaprakash Narayan followed suit.

All the leaders told the media that the President was sympathetic towards their demands.

Ponnala and Bhatti said they had pleaded with the President not to extend the deadline to send the Draft T Bill back to him as was being demanded by the Seemandhra leaders. They also urged him to ensure that the process of bifurcation was completed at the earliest. Shankar Rao said that his meeting with the President was just a courtesy call.

The five rebel Congress MPs from Seemandhra - Vundavalli Arun Kumar, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, Lagadapati Rajagopal, Sabbam Hari and GV Harsha Kumar- submitted a two-page memorandum to the President, petitioning him to keep the State united.

Later, speaking to the media, they said: "We are hopeful that President would stall the T process as he has full knowledge of what is happening on the issue. We have told him that bringing the T Bill before Parliament when the UPA government does not have sufficient majority is not a correct step. We also apprised him of several errors in the Bill.” The TDP Telangana Forum leaders headed by Nama Nageswara Rao and E Dayakara Rao called on the President and requested him not to extend the deadline for sending the T Bill back to him.

Dayakar Rao told The Hans India they had urged the President not to give any extra time to the assembly to discuss the Bill, and to take all necessary measures to ensure smooth discussion in the Assembly when it would meet on January 3. He said they also urged him to see that the process of carving out a separate state was completed before the 2014 elections.

Jayaprakash Narayan called on Pranab. He was followed by a BJP Seemandhra delegation. They requested that the T process be put on hold, contending that the T Bill ignored the concerns of the people of Seemandhra. Narayan said that he had told the President that the division would cause immense harm to the Rayalaseema region. He said he had suggested that the Centre call all the stake-holders of from the three regions, and find an amicable solution.