Sparks flew at the meeting convened by the Cabinet Sub-Committee for creation of new districts here on Saturday, with legislators from Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts vociferous with their objections.
Notable was the fact that the legislators from the ruling party representing Ranga Reddy district displayed more loyalty to their constituencies, by unanimously opposing any proposal to merge the parts of Ranga Reddy district with Hyderabad. Legislators from Hyderabad too had their objections, with MIM representatives led by floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi making it clear to the sub-committee that they would not support any proposal to change the contours of the existing Hyderabad district, or add mandals from Ranga Reddy. “BJP legislators, on the other hand, said the district could be expanded and made coterminous with existing GHMC boundaries,” said MLC N.Ramchander Rao.
The session for Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts reportedly started off on the wrong foot when it was caught in vocal protest by legislators from the former against joint session. The sub-committee was then forced to divide its time between Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts.
Besides, Chief Commissioner of Land Administration Raymond Peter’s observation about consensus on Vikarabad as a district was contended by TRS MP K.Vishweshwar Reddy who said a representation had already been made opposing it. When Mr. Peter mentioned that meetings had been held by district Collectors with people’s representatives, legislators from both the districts countered it, saying no such meeting was held, leading to a ruckus. At a separate meeting for Hyderabad district, BJP floor leader G.Kishan Reddy and legislator Chintal Ramachandra Reddy apparently expressed chagrin about the “open-ended” meeting, and said they saw no point in meeting without any draft proposals. However, they were eventually coaxed into sharing their point of view.
The Ranga Reddy legislators placed before the government, two proposals, either to club all the mandals of the district to divide them into East Ranga Reddy and West Ranga Reddy districts, or create a separate district with rural mandals and retaining the urban mandals as another district.
