The BJP on Wednesday demanded the Congress to suitably address ‘genuine concerns’ of people in Seema-Andhra and simultaneously take up in the forthcoming Winter Session of Parliament the Bill to create a separate Telangana State. The Opposition party also suggested the Congress to first get its own house in order.
“Congress is treating the Telangana issue as its internal party matter. They have been doing flip-flop on Telangana since 2004. We have taken a principled decision to create the State. But genuine concerns of Seema-Andhra people should be properly and immediately addressed. The Congress is not dividing the State, it is dividing people of the State,” former BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu told The Pioneer.
Talking to reporters later, Naidu charged that even the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Central Ministers from the State were speaking in different voices on the Telangana issue, which shows a lack of unity in the ruling party.
“Congress should first explain the conduct of its own Ministers. There is no Government in Andhra Pradesh. It has collapsed and there is talk of imposing President’s Rule. Who created this fear. You first bring your own house in order,” Naidu said.
He pointed out that the Telangana issue did not come up overnight and the Congress has been talking about it since 2004.
“This issue has been pending for years. It was mentioned in the 2004 election manifesto of the Congress. Then the Congress and the TRS joined hands and benefitted in the elections due to this issue. It was mentioned in the President’s Address after 2009 polls. Then Home Minister P Chidambaram spoke about it on December 9, 2009 in Parliament,” Naidu said.
He asked the Congress what it has done on Telangana in the last nine and half years starting from 2004. Naidu said the Congress made the declaration on formation of Telangana on July 30 but has “not moved an inch” since then. Claiming that more than 900 people had committed suicide in Telangana region on the issue, he said now suicides have started in Seema-Andhra region also.
He also demanded the contents of Pranab Mukherjee, K Rosaiah, and Sri Krishna committee reports be made public. “Congress should not indulge in double-speak... The State has to be divided and not the people,” he said.