Seemandhra Congress leaders seeks President's intervention

Congress leaders from Seemandhra Thursday urged President Pranab Mukherjee to intervene in the issue of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and take into consideration the sentiments of Seemandhra people.

The public representatives from Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) including state ministers, MPs and state legislators met the president in New Delhi Thursday evening and submitted a memorandum.

Primary Education Minister S. Sailajanath, who led the delegation, later told reporters that they urged the president to intervene and ensure that the constitutional process is followed while dividing Andhra Pradesh to carve out separate Telangana state.

Stressing the need to follow the process adopted for division of other states, they appealed to the president to ensure that Telangana bill is sent to the state assembly and the view of the majority is accepted.

The delegation complained that the process being adopted by the government was "unconstitutional" and "undemocratic".

"We are hearing that the government will bypass the assembly and table the bill directly in Parliament. This is unconstitutional, undemocratic and against the spirit of federalism," said Sailajanath.

The leaders also drew attention of the president towards the concerns of Seemandhra people especially with regard to sharing of water, revenues, education, employment and status of Hyderabad.

Seemandhra leaders later met Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh and called for addressing the concerns of people.