Naidu urges president to settle Telangana issue amicably

With the process for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh entering the final phase, Telugu Desam Party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu Monday urged President Pranab Mukherjee to intervene and settle the issue amicably.

Naidu told reporters after meeting the president at Rashtrapati Bhavan Monday night that as the central government was violating the Constitution, he requested him to evolve a mechanism to find an amicable solution.

The former Andhra Pradesh chief minister said he apprised Mukherjee of the developments relating to bifurcation including the resolutions passed in both the houses of the state legislature rejecting Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 sent by president for its opinion.

Accusing the Congress of complicating a sensitive issue, he said it was acting in a unilateral manner and violating constitutional provisions. He said the central government was also working against the spirit of federalism.

Naidu, whose own party like all other major parties stand divided on the issue along regional lines, alleged that Congress was going ahead on the issue in a unilateral manner without consultations with the stakeholders.

"If you want the bifurcation, take the people of Seemandhra into confidence and if you want to keep the state united, convince the people of Telangana," he suggested.

The TDP chief alleged that the Congress wanted bifurcation of the state for the political gains.

"The Congress party wants TRS to merge with it and also trying to have an alliance with YSR Congress. Now that YSR Congress has weakened, it is using the chief minister to play a new drama in Seemandhra," he said.

Naidu met the president even as the central government said it would go ahead with the tabling of Telangana bill in parliament this month.

The bill along with the report on the debate in the legislature and the suggestions and amendments proposed by the legislators reached the central government Monday. The union cabinet is now likely to make certain amendments to the bill and send it to the president with a recommendation to forward it to parliament.

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy along with Congress leaders from Seemandhra would be meeting the president on Feb 5 to request him not to forward the bill to parliament in view of the resolutions passed in both the houses of the legislature rejecting the bill.