Minister urges PM to note dissent to decision on Telangana

Union Textile Minister K. Sambasiva Rao has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to note his dissent to the Feb 7 decision of the union cabinet to approve the bill for formation of a separate Telangana state.

In a letter to the prime minister, the minister from Seemandhra said he did not want history to remember him in an unkind way for the mistakes "we are committing today".

Rao wrote the letter Feb 7 but he released it to media Wednesday, hours after he and three other ministers from Seemandhra trooped into the well of the Lok Sabha to protest the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.

Rao asked the prime minister not to table the Telangana bill in parliament in haste.

"History will judge us by the actions that we have taken today. Let us not be remembered for taking hasty decisions and damaging the federal character of this nation for short term goal," he said.

Pointing out that the bill was rejected by the state legislature, the minister said nowhere in the past a state was divided despite its legislature rejecting the bill.

Claiming that the bill has many anomalies, he said bringing the bill to parliament in haste will do permanent damage.

He said the bill failed to address the concerns of people from Seemandhra.

Rao wanted the government to allow people of the state to decide in the coming elections if they want bifurcation.