Put it in Abeyance, Kiran: Will stay on and fight

• CM Kiran Reddy hits out at high command’s decision to divide the State
• In interviews to four national channels, demands rollback of T decision
• Quitting is no solution, and the need is to stay… convince high command
• Avers that T people should be convinced about benefitsof united State
• Says he is not defying party, makes it clear State more important than post

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday demanded that the Centre keep in abeyance its decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh to carve out Telangana State. He was giving interviews to CNN-IBN, Times Now, NDTV, and Headlines Today.

During the interactions, he literally spilled the beans. He minced no words in declaring his observation that the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh had been taken by the Congress party and the UPA government for political considerations. “You can’t divide a state for political considerations,” were his words when prompted by Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN channel.

Kiran Reddy vociferously stood his ground and espoused the cause of Samaikyandhra in the interviews. The import of the timing of the interviews could not be missed, coming as they did at a time when Chandrababu Naidu is in Delhi to press the Centre to allay apprehensions of Seemandhra people and Jaganmohan Reddy is continuing an indefinite fast to keep the State united. When pressed by Rajdeep to agree that the T decision was merely a political decision, Kiran Reddy tried to fend off such queries, but finally relented and made his view known clearly to the nation.

This made Abhishek Singhvi, a spokesperson of Congress, to react on the IBN channel that Kiran Reddy spoke like a Seemandhra CM, and “not as the Chief Minister of the entire State.”

To a query on other channels, Kiran Reddy said that the decision of dividing the State is a very harsh one and the Congress has created a bigger problem while trying to solve one problem.

“There is anger against division, against party and against us. “ He said the party has taken a political decision; Government of India has to show solutions. He also denied that he was lending support to the agitation in Seemandhra region.

Reddy said that as per the Constitution, the Assembly needs approve the Cabinet’s decision before the State could be split. “It should be debated in the Assembly… People should know the advantages of the formation of Telangana.” The Chief Minister said that it didn’t matter what he thought, but what mattered was what the people in Hyderabad and across the State thought about a shared state capital. “An amicable solution acceptable to everyone should be there…. We cannot have people of a certain area affected by the decision,” he .

The need of the hour was to convince the people of the State in the both regions to veer round to the view that overall growth could be ensured only in the united State. If asked why he didn’t protest to the party leadership, he said he made his point clear to the high command and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well. “No decision should be taken… Surely not before elections,” he quoted himself as saying to them.

When asked why he was not quitting when the Centre was proceeding and that he could even ask Seemandhra Ministers in the State and at the Centre to quit as well, he stressed that, “quitting is no solution. We need to stay back, press ahead with our efforts to convince the high command about the need to roll back the decision.”

He categorically stated that he did not care about holding on to the seat of power. “My seat is a small sacrifice. This position is not a permanent. What is permanent is the State and the need is to secure its future,” he said. To justify his point, he mentioned the long-draw-out struggle in the Seemandhra region.

However, when he was confronted with a query as to whether the struggle of Telangana was not a justified one, Kiran Reddy said that the people of Telangana need to be convinced about the need to stay in the united State, while taking their concerns on backwardness into account.

Reddy exuded confidence that the party’s leaders from the Seemandhra region would convince the high command about the flawed nature of the decision. Stating that his stand on United Andhra Pradesh should not be construed as being biased towards one particular region, he said he firmly believes that progress is possible only when the State remains as one.

He said it was not right for the Centre to take the decision when over six lakh persons were on strike and protesting. Thousands of crores were lost due to the ongoing agitation in Seemandhra region, which has been on for over 63 days against formation of a new state. “They are losing thousands of crores towards salaries. Such is the concern the people have for the state of Andhra Pradesh,” he said.

He criticised the decision of leaders like Jaganmohan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu to undertake hunger strike against the formation of the new state. “Chandrababu Naidu and Jaganmohan Reddy have at some point supported the creation of Telangana. They are changing stance for electoral gains. From the Seemandhra area we have never asked for the State to be split and we have always wanted a united state,” he said.

The people of Seemandhra region have raised certain basic concerns on the status of Hyderabad, Irrigation, Power, employment in government and private sector, especially IT sector. Denying that he was defying the high command’s decision, Kiran Reddy said: “We are telling Central government to address these concerns before they go ahead.”

He said the power crisis had become a matter of serious concern. He said the government was doing all it can to make employees to go back to work. “The employees should return to work so that the common people do not suffer. We are continuously engaging the striking employees,” he said.