CM snubs Harish, Akbar

• Harish charges Cong with backtracking on Telangana
• CM: TRS backtracked on SRC
• Akbar charges CM with arresting him and his brother out of political vendetta
• CM denies the charge and says law will take its course

Hyderabad: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday had to bat against a volley of allegations from TRS leader T Harish Rao who said that the Centre had gone back on its promise to carve separate Telangana and from MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi who said that the Chief Minister got him and his brother Assaduddin Owaisi arrested out of political vendetta for having snapped ties with the Congress. Participting in a short discussion, Harish Rao charged the Congress party of backtracking on its assurance to bifurcate the state. He said AICC in-charge of state affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad had promised to create Telangana before 2004 elections and forged an alliance with the TRS. The then party senior leader Pranab Mukherjee also assured the party delegation at a meeting in Himachal Bhavan, New Delhi, and thereafter the Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, wore pink scarves during the election campaign. Interestingly Akbar also demanded that the Centre take quick decision on T issue and said, "Let us have a resolution on Telangana and request the Centre for a solution." Reacting to it, Kiran Kumar Reddy alleged that the TRS had agreed in writing for the constitution of a second State Reorganisation Commission (SRC) before forging an alliance in 2004 and later objected to it. He said the T issue was a sensitive one and any decision by the Centre would impact national politics and hence it was taking time. If a resolution on Telangana has to be adopted by the House then it should be a unanimous one. The state government would follow the directive of the Centre on the issue, he said. Kiran said that the Centre was likely to take a decision on separate Telangana after the budget session of parliament. Harish Rao lashed out at the Congress party for not taking a decision even after nine years of promising it. He said this raised doubts over its sincerity. If the T issue was complicated why the Congress party had electoral understanding with the TRS. It did not even constitute the second SRC, he quipped. Akbar said that they would not be cowed down by politics of vengeance. "We are ready to get hanged," he said. Referring to charges of sedition and waging war against the country, Akbar said, "I love this country and it is my country." He also said that he was ready to fight for the rights of minorities and die for their cause. While replying to Akbar's charges, the Chief Minister vehemently denied that he had done anything out of vendetta against the Owaisi brothers. The government had gone strictly by law. He was prepared to extend necessary help to the MIM but personally he would not do any harm. At the same time, he made it clear that no wrong-doing would be accepted. The whole nation had watched what Akbar spoke, he reminded.