Telangana statehood row: YSR Congress Party asks Andhra CM Reddy to quit

YSR Congress Party has asked Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to quit his office if the decision to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh was taken without consulting him.

"When YSR (Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy) was in power, the issue of division never came up as he was a strong leader. When the state leadership turned weak, the political scenario changed. If the Chief Minister says that the decision on the division was taken without his knowledge, he should quit his post and resign from the party as his presence has become irrelevant," Deputy Floor leader Bhuma Shobha Nagi Reddy told reporters here on Friday.

The YSR Congress said that the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister woke up from his slumber ten days after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had announced its decision to grant separate statehood to Telangana, with sudden expression of his concerns regarding the division in terms of water sharing, state capital and power.

"The Chief Minister, who made many trips to Delhi and was closeted with the top brass of his Party, is now telling the media about the apprehensions is raw political opportunism. If he would plead ignorance that he had no knowledge of the developments and was not aware of the decision before it was announced, he was not taken into confidence by the Party, then on moral grounds he should quit, " Bhuma Shobha Nagi Reddy said.

"The Chief Minister, who spoke at length on the problems arising out of the division, should have presented his viewpoint to the High Command and stalled the decision. When BJP leader Sushma Swaraj could tell to her party state president G Kishen Reddy that a decision on Telangana is being taken, the Chief Minister cannot plead ignorance of such an important issue," she said.

YSR Congress said that Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh has set the tone of blaming YSR for the division and the Chief Minister had caught up with it, as he had no proper answer as to why the process could not be stalled.

"When YSR was at the helm of affairs, there was no talk of a separate state as he was a strong leader and could handle difficult situations with deft statesmanship. In 2009, YSR went on record telling TRS floor leader that your party has went to polls on separate state slogan while I went to people on the development plank. Eventually Congress won more seats than TRS in the region," said Bhuma Shobha Nagi Reddy.

"Telangana ideologue Prof Jaishankar said after the death of YSR that a major hurdle to the separate statehood has passed away. Even KCR was of the same view. The letter which P Chinna Reddy gave to Sonia Gandhi was the opinion of a group of MLAs and YSR was not a party to it," she added.

Bhuma Shobha Nagi Reddy further said the state is witnessing a bizarre situation where the Chief Minister and Opposition leader have reversed their roles.

"While the Chief Minister is speaking like an opposition leader, Chadrababu Naidu started speaking in terms of a new state capital," she added.

Reiterating that the party has given a letter to Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde raising the consequences arising out of the division, including water sharing, capital and power, she said, Chief Minister has been telling the same things now.

"The Congress decision is only to counter the rapid growth of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy popularity, she said, adding that there is no clarity on whether AK Antony Committee is a Party appointed one or a Government appointed one.