Andhra leaders make beeline to meet President over bifurcation

Leaders of various political and non-political groups made a beeline to meet President Pranab Mukherjee here Monday to argue their case for and against formation of a separate Telangana state.

Leaders queued up at Rashtrapati Nilayam to call on the president, who is on southern sojourn.

Those from Telangana urged Mukherjee to expedite the process for formation of separate state while the leaders from Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) wanted him to keep Andhra Pradesh united.

Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), which comprise several political and non-political organizations, appealed to the president to ensure that hurdles being created in carving out Telangana state were removed.

About 40 leaders of JAC led by its chairman M. Kodandaram met Mukherjee and submitted a memorandum, urging him to expedite the process.

Kodandaram told reporters after the meeting that the political parties which agreed for formation of Telangana state during various meetings called by the central government during last four years were adopting undemocratic attitude in opposing the bill sent by the president to the state assembly for its views.

He said they informed the president that Seemandhra legislators were stalling debate on the bill in the assembly and requested him to ensure that the hurdles were removed at the earliest for carving out the separate state.

Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary K. Narayana also made a similar request during his meeting with the president. He alleged that even the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was reversing its stand on Telangana.

Senior Congress leader D. Srinivas also met the president to apprise him of the attempts being made by certain people to stall the bill in the assembly. The former state unit chief said Mukherjee had full knowledge of Telangana as he had also headed a committee to go into the issue.

Leaders of Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers' Association, which represents government employees of Seemandhra, were to meet the president later in the day to oppose bifurcation of the state.

With just two days to go for the president's return to New Delhi, leaders from both sides were meeting him to present their case.

Congress MPs from Seemandhra and other leaders from the two regions had met him Sunday.

The president on Dec 12 sent Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 to state assembly for its views. The bill is to be sent back to him by Jan 23.

The bill is likely to come up for debate from Jan 3, when the second phase of the winter of assembly begins.