Govt rules out imposition of President's rule in Andhra

The Union government today ruled out imposition of President’s rule in Andhra Pradesh and expressed hopes that consultations with all stakeholders would lead to a final decision.

The Congress core committee, comprising top leaders, including party president Sonia Gandhi and her political advisor Ahmed Patel, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram today to take stock of the situation.

“We are not thinking of President’s rule. We hope the process of consultation will show us the path to reach a conclusion,” Chidambaram said while talking to reporters. “The status as of today is that the consultation process is still continuing. No decision has been taken yet.”

He said the government would speak to MLAs and MPs from the state demanding creation of a separate Telangana. The government had held talks with political parties on January 6 to discuss the recommendations of the Srikrishna Committee.

The Telangana Political Joint Action Committee had announced a 48-hour bandh, which came to an end today, to put pressure on the Union government. The statewide bandh would be followed by another two-day agitation to stop trains on Friday and Saturday. Over 100 legislators have already submitted their resignations.

Chidambaram said the Congress general secretary responsible for party affairs in Andhra Pradesh was already talking to MLAs and MPs on the issue. “I sincerely hope and appeal to everyone, while we understand the provocation for an agitation, we sincerely hope that even those who agitate will not lead to a breakdown of law and order,” he said.

Talking about his recent meeting with the director general of police in Andhra Pradesh, V Dinesh Reddy, Chidambaram said Reddy had come to meet him because he recently assumed charge.

“There is nothing unusual in the meeting. There is apprehension that law and order problems would arise as a result of the bandh call that is why we have provided central armed police forces to the state. But I sincerely hope that there will not be a breakdown of law and order,” he said.

Visalandhra Mahasabha, an outfit demanding a united state, met in the capital and urged the government to indicate, either way, what it was thinking. “We don’t believe there are such deep-seated differences between the people of Telangana and the rest of Andhra Pradesh. Justice Srikrishna’s report is clear that the region that is most backward in Andhra Pradesh is Rayalaseema, not Telangana. But the Centre must consider whether it wants to undo the principle of linguistic basis for creating the state,” said activist Prabhakar Parkala.