"Chavan Needs Visa To Enter AP"

Does a citizen of the country need a 'visa' to visit a state within the country?

According to some Hyderabadis, the answer is yes if it means Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

With the arrest of Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu along with the members of his team while on a visit to inspect the site of the illegal Babli Irrigation Project in Maharashtra, the question has started a debate among city residents.

Reports of persons hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh being attacked by some groups in Mumbai are not new. The 'Marathi Manoos' has been tainted as regionally-biased, thanks to the attacks on job-seekers from other states, and this was reflected by most of the Hyderabadis INN talked to.

According to S Vikaruddin, an Old City resident, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan would have to apply for a 'visa' if he plans to visit Hyderabad in future, especially if the TDP comes back to power.

Vikaruddin said that the Maharashtra government cannot stop anyone from visiting any part of that state, let alone an elected public representative and a former chief minister. He says that the government of the neighbouring state should not have reacted the way it did.

Vikaruddin further termed the detention of the TDP team as 'bigotry' against people from Andhra Pradesh.

Views of a Secunderabad resident, R Samuel Joseph, reflect Vikaruddin's opinion. He says, "We have been watching the action undertaken by the Maharashtra government against the Telugu people silently."

Joseph said that the Maharashtra government stopping the TDP team is nothing but 'cruelty'.

He further adds, "we now have to rethink our relationships about Marathis settled in Hyderabad and other parts of the state."

Joseph says that the situation is getting so out of hand with the adamant attitude of the Maharashtra government, that very soon Hyderabadis will rise against people from Maharashtra.

He also says that it would be better if the politicians from Maharashtra are denied permission to enter the state for any reason whatsoever.

Malakpet resident S Ahmeduddin says that stopping of the TDP team is downright condemnable. He says, "Neither TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu nor its leaders are aliens. They are citizens of a democratic country. The detention of these legislators will sow seeds of mistrust and regional bias in the people of the two states."

Ahmeduddin also blames the Congress high command and the state government for neglecting the issue and letting it fester.

He says that by their inaction, the Congress is seen as helpless before the Maharashtra government.

Ahmeduddin further says that the Congress is a divided house, with camps loyal to Jagan and Chief Minister K Rosaiah.

This has led to the belief that the state government is powerless to counter any illegal activities by a neighbouring state's government.

Samuel Joseph says that the Maharashtra government had first started work on the Babli Project illegally, and that it has added the arrest of the TDP team to its list of illegal activities.

Courtesy: INN