TDP for JPC to go into Telangana issue

TDP today demanded in Rajya Sabha that a Joint Parliamentary Committee be set up to look into Telangana issue and expressed anguish over the impact of the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Y S Chowdhary (TDP) regretted that there was no response from the government even as "the constitutional set up in Andhra Pradesh is on verge of failure" after the decision to carve out Telangana.

Chowdhary, who has been protesting in the House on the issue ever since the Monsoon began on August 5, said, "We can wake up a sleeping man, but if a man is pretending to sleep, what can we do?"

Noting that the situation in Andhra Pradesh has fallen from "the frying pan to fire", he said Finance Minister P Chidambaram's statement on the issue in Parliament has created "more confusion" than resolving it.

Chowdhary said the minister's reply has not moved even an inch forward towards resolving the issue and what he said in reply to a direct question by Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley on when a separate Telangana will be created, has only created more confusion.

The TDP member said 19 members from various parties in the House expressed their concern over the issue but "there was "no response, no movement" from the government to resolve it.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP N Harikrishna, son of late N T Rama Rao, had yesterday resigned from the Rajya Sabha in protest against the decision to carve out a Telangana state.

When Deputy Chairman P J Kurien made the announcement of the resignation in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, Harikrishna's two party colleagues, Chowdhary and CM Ramesh, created uproar.

After Kurien asked the TDP members to give notice, they said they have already done so. Chowdhary was allowed to raise the issue in Zero Hour today, while Ramesh associated.