AP govt to set up police stations in Hyderabad

Amid rising tension with Telangana over cash-for-vote scam, the Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and declared it would go ahead with setting up of its own police stations in common capital Hyderabad.

Virtually demanding resignation of Narasimhan, Andhra Pradesh's Labour Minister K. Atchan Naidu said his continuance on the post would harm the Constitution. While leaders of the Telgu Desam Party (TDP) government have been targeting the governor for the last few days, this is the first time that a minister accused him of bias. Narasimhan is the governor of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The minister told reporters after the state cabinet meeting that it was improper for a person holding a constitutional post to act only as per the wishes of Telangana government. "Hyderabad is a common capital and the governor has the responsibility to protect all citizens," he said.

The TDP has been demanding that Narasimhan exercise powers to maintain law and order as per Section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, but Narasimhan told TDP leaders who met him that the central government has not issued guidelines. "Governor says he has not received guidelines. There are 35 sections of the act. How are you implementing other sections without guidelines," asked Atchan Naidu.

The two states may be heading for confrontation on the law and order issue as the minister said the Andhra government would go ahead with setting up of its police stations in Hyderabad. "Hyderabad is common capital for 10 years. We will run our own administration. We are taking steps to form our own police stations. We are looking into legal aspects," he said.

The minister said they informed the governor that Andhra ministers were surrendering the security provided by Telangana and would make their own arrangements. He claimed that 45 battalions of Andhra Pradesh Police already were present in Hyderabad.