United they stand: TDP delegation led by Yerran Naidu (third from left) giving a report to Srikrishna panel Member-Secretary V. K. Duggal (fourth from left) on Telangana issue in New Delhi on Saturday.
NEW DELHI: A group of three Ministers from ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh, who claimed to represent the Telangana Ministers in the Cabinet, told the B.N. Srikrishna Committee that only a separate Telangana “will set right the socio-economic and cultural inequalities and injustices suffered by the Telangana people for over five decades under the onslaught of Andhra rulers”.
The Ministers – D. Sridhar Babu (Higher Education), elected from Manthani, J. Krishna Rao (Food), Kollapur and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy (Information Technology), Nalgonda – in a memorandum titled “the perception of the common man of Telangana” said small States helped the people/representatives to govern their regions with greater level of participation. This would give better governance.
The present scenario in Telangana was not an overnight development and was a culmination of the feelings of distress, deprivation and disillusionment of the people of the region with the continued legacy of neglect and step-motherly treatment by the successive government controlled by the other regional counterparts.
The Minsters alleged that the cultural imperialism of the other regional counterparts had dealt a severe blow to the self-respect of the Telangana people resulting in complete emotional chasm and discord up to the grassroots level. “The damage is irreversible and irreparable and any attempt to the contrary will only accentuate the problem and further divide the deep-rooted malaise between the regions,” they warned. TDP leaders led by K. Yerran Naidu and U. Venkateswarlu and MLC D. Veerabhadra Rao, in their memorandum, opposed division of the State “at any cost” and also wanted the issue to be considered as a national issue and sought a countrywide debate.
Another set of TDP MLAs under the banner “TDP legislature forum for united AP” and led by P. Kesav gave another memorandum opposing creation of Telangana and pointed out that the region was given more funds.
They wanted the government to come out with statistics on the amount spent for Telangana development so far.
Meanwhile, Committee member-secretary V.K. Duggal said there was no question of further extension for receiving petitions from stakeholders beyond Saturday (April 10) and the Committee had enough material to go into the Terms of Reference (ToR).
He said the Congress, AIMIM and CPI (M) had sought some time to present their views which the Committee had accepted.
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