Round Table On Seemandhra Woes

The Lok Satta Party is organizing a round-table conference of leaders drawn from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, in Hyderabad, on August 10. The agenda of the conference is to discuss how the bifurcation of the state, "which appears to be inevitable", can be carried out constructively, protecting the interests of all regions and sections.

Announcing this at a media conference, Lok Satta Party national president Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan said that leaders of students, government employees, NGOs and intellectuals from the region are being invited for the conference.

JP made use of the occasion to appeal to people in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra not to resort to violence, bandhs, road blockades and suicides.

He asked government employees to not strike but work with redoubled vigor to attend to people's needs.

"Vandalizing statues of rival political parties will merely weaken the movement by making it partisan. People have the right to protest peacefully, but not to indulge in acts which hurt the interests of the very people on whose behalf they claim to be agitating. The media, instead of fanning raw passions through sensationalizing news, should promote constructive thinking," he opined.

"The Congress and the government of India are primarily responsible for the present political crisis in the state. The TDP and the YSRCP too contributed to the crisis by indulging in double-speak," said JP.

JP accused the government of India of behaving like an emperor and treating the state of Andhra Pradesh as its vassal.

"It has not bothered to hold meaningful discussions with all stakeholders with a view to hammering out a solution acceptable to all sections of people in all the regions. Instead, it has indulged in the ritual of consultations. It is now getting ready to bypass the Assembly and impose its decision on the bifurcation of the state.

"This approach will in effect convert India into a unitary State, destroying federalism. The ruling party's focus is totally on the number of seats it will get in the next elections, and not on the interests of either the country or the state," he said. (INN)