YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here and said an amendment should be brought in for Article 3 of the Constitution, wherein the Assembly must unanimously pass a resolution or at least a two-thirds majority in the Assembly and Parliament should be made a must for bifurcation of a State.
"If Article 3 is not amended, the repercussions would be so severe that anybody in power in Delhi could sit down there and their whims and fancies could split any State and democracy would be killed in broad daylight," he said after meeting Patnaik. Reddy, along with some of his party leaders, was here as part of his nationwide campaign against bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh for creation of a separate State of Telangana.
"We have requested Naveenji on an amendment to Article 3 and requested him (to foresee) the kind of ramifications this would have. We have impressed upon him," he added.
Describing the Telangana decision as "arbitrary", the YSRC chief mentioned that what is happening in AP does not stop with AP. This would set a new precedent where it would roll on to other States in future. Reddy expressed his satisfaction over the meeting with Patnaik, saying "He (Patnaik) is kind enough to extend all his support in safeguarding democracy." On his part, Patnaik termed division of a State as "a system of political, social and emotional issue." He told the media, "In case of AP, the people of the State should have been consulted and a consensus developed before any decision was taken. It should not be done for narrow political electoral gains. A sensitive political dialogue is missing in the whole process." Earlier, Reddy had called on President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday and urged him to refer the issue for judicial review in the interests of the Telugu people and sovereignty of the country. The President was requested to exercise powers under Article 143 in this direction and seek advice of the Supreme Court.