Kiran Kumar Reddy urges President Mukherjee to keep Andhra Pradesh united

He says that the people from the entire region would suffer with the proposed division

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy, on Wednesday appealed to President, Pranab Mukherjee, to ensure that the state is kept united, and added that people from the entire region would suffer if the proposed division takes place.

"All the public representatives or central ministers, MPs, ministers from Seemandhra region had met the President, and requested that this is the first time that a resolution requesting for partition of the state has been rejected unopposed by the state legislature," he told media here today.

"We requested the President to use his powers to see that the state is united as per the Constitution because the will of people of Andhra Pradesh is to see that the state is united, and that is what is reflected in the state assembly and in the council," he added.

Reddy further said that the will of the Andhra Pradesh people is reflected in the unopposed resolution who have been advocating for a united state. He also added that bifurcation of any state should be taken forward only if it is for the betterment of the people.

"75-80% of the people want that the state to be united. Where a division has to take place, it should be for the better of the people of all regions but in this case, the people of Telangana are going to suffer tremendously due to lack of water (river water distribution), they will have severe power problems, and from Seemandhra there will be problems in education, which is totally Hyderabad centric. We will have problems with medical facility which is all in Hyderabad. So people from the entire region will face a lot of problem if the state is divided," he added.

Earlier in the day, Reddy and his ministerial colleagues from the Seemandhra region began a sit down protest at Jantar Mantar today to oppose the creation of a new state of Telangana.

Scores of pro and anti-Telangana protesters broke into a scuffle outside Andhra Bhawan over the Telangana Bill, which is expected to be tabled in the current session of the Parliament.

Supporters from both sides of the divide were holding the protests outside the Andhra Bhawan when the scuffle began.

The Centre is determined to introduce the bill in Parliament.

The Andhra Pradesh Assembly had earlier rejected the draft Bill to create a separate Telangana state.

On December 5, last year, the Cabinet cleared the Parliamentary bill for bifurcating the Andhra Pradesh to create a separate Telangana state, with 10 districts. In July last year, the ruling Congress party approved the creation of a new Telangana state, which had raised fears of violence in the area.

The proposal was received with mixed emotions across the state, with various politicians starkly opposing the bifurcation.