Differences over bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh can be sorted out only through mutual consent of the people of the two regions, TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu said here on Wednesday while demanding a national-level all-party meet on it.
At a press conference here on Wednesday, he pointed out that the issue was a sensitive one that required a consensual decision, at meeting chaired by the Prime Minister. The Centre should convene an all-party meeting to discuss the issue and then chart its course lest the situation become more problematic having nationwide ramifications, he added.
In spite of the massive protests in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, the Congress was going ahead with the process of bifurcation in an arbitrary manner by brushing aside Constitutional precedents and democratic norms, he alleged.
“The ruling party’s conduct is a mockery of the ‘federal spirit’ as neither the State government was taken into confidence nor was the public opinion elicited for amicably settling the dispute,” he said. If the Congress was not capable of breaking the deadlock to the satisfaction of all stakeholders, let them leave it to the TDP and apologise for the mistake,” Mr. Naidu said without elaborating.
Successive governments at the Centre had extended little financial assistance to Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand after they were carved out during the NDA regime.
Bifurcation should not be taken forward without sorting out the complicated issues of identifying the new Capital city of Seemandhra, the fate of Hyderabad, sharing of Godavari and Krishna river waters, education, jobs etc., he said,
The TDP chief opined that the timing of the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh was wrong as the UPA-II had just three months remaining for the announcement of general elections.
The findings of Srikrishna Committee were completely ignored and not even the recommendations of the committees headed by Pranab Mukherjee, A.K. Antony and K. Rosaiah were given due importance. The Group of Ministers had no clarity of purpose and its meetings were nothing but a farce, he alleged.
The Supreme Court observed that bifurcation had to be done on the floor of the State Assembly, but to no avail as the ruling party had its attention riveted on political gains rather than the consequences of bifurcation, Mr. Naidu observed.