Telangana Not Cong's "Internal Matter": Venkaiah Naidu

BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, on Monday, accused the Congress-led UPA government of treating the Telangana issue as an "internal party matter".

Participating in a debate on Andhra Pradesh's bifurcation in the Rajya Sabha, Venkaiah Naidu said that the Congress party had no clear-cut policy on the Telangana issue.

He recalled that several people sacrificed their lives in the Telangana movement of 1969 and the Jai Andhra movement of 1972, while hundreds of youth committed suicides after 2004. He said that the issue is indeed very old, and that it needs a proper approach to be solved.

Venkaiah Naidu said that the Congress should have acted immediately after coming to power in 2004, as it had entered into an alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi before the elections.

"However, the party formed the Pranab Mukherjee Committee, the Rosaiah Committee and then the Srikrishna Committee to drag the issue," he said.

He said that the Congress had wasted over 9 years in announcing its decision while treating the subject as an internal matter. He asked whether the formation of the Antony Committee was an admission that proper consultations were not held on the issue.

Accusing the Congress of mishandling the subject, Venkaiah Naidu said that the Telangana and Seemandhra regions must be treated properly since they both consist of Telugu-speaking people, and that it was not an India-Pakistan-like scenario.

He also condemned the provocative statements being issued by leaders from both the regions. He said that people in Hyderabad were mature, and that they have been living peacefully, but that by way of provocative statements, political leaders were trying to incite regional feelings and hatred amongst them.

Venkaiah Naidu said that the government should have redressed the locations of central universities, IITs, AIMS, research labs, growth corridors, river water and power sharing mechanisms, the international airport, the status of employees and other issues.

He said that the Chandigarh model of a joint capital would not work for Hyderabad due to its location, since people from Seemandhra need to cross at least two districts to reach the capital. He also said that Rayalaseema people were feeling betrayed and let down due to the Telangana decision, and that their fears should be allayed.

The BJP leader said that the Congress was trying to score political points over the Telangana issue. Stating that bifurcation is a larger subject, he said that there ought to be a government mechanism to work out a solution. (INN)