Jagan Reddy meets Pawar, Thackeray to stop Andhra bifurcation

YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy met NCP president Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray here Monday to oppose division of Andhra Pradesh.

While Pawar did not give any concrete assurance on the issue, Reddy was booed by a group of pro-Telangana activists outside the Thackeray residence.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had earlier supported Telangana, but Pawar took note of Reddy's arguments that the state legislature should be taken into confidence and amendment to Article 3 of the constitution for carving out a new state.

"Reddy's suggestion is the central government should not bypass the state legislature while taking a decision on Article 3 of the constitution. It is time to give it a second thought," Pawar said.

He promised to place the matter before the NCP working committee and felt those who believe in democracy would definitely not just ignore Reddy's suggestions.

Reddy said he explained and tried to convince Pawar on the issue.

"I said if a person of his stature keeps quiet and allows the division, the issue will not stop with Andhra Pradesh," Reddy said, hinting at demands for a separate Vidarbha state in (eastern) Maharashtra.

Later, he went and met Thackeray at the latter's residence on the same issue, but the details of the meeting were not available.

Reddy's parleys here came as part of his similar meetings held with President Pranab Mukherjee, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, seeking their intervention to stop the division of Andhra Pradesh.