The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday slammed the Centre on the terms of reference of the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee and said “nothing good will come out of this committee.”
BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said the UPA government’s approach to the issue was totally wrong. A political solution was needed now, but the Congress was unable to find it.
Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi, who backed the government’s decision, said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s criticism of the terms of reference was “casual, dismissive and petty.”
“A well thought-out and crafted terms of reference after detailed multi-level deliberations, including with the Chairman of the committee, cannot be hastily washed off and dismissed by those professing oblique political motive,” he said.
About TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s charge that the Centre had again betrayed the Telangana people, Mr. Singhvi said: “On the one hand you have detailed deliberations; on the other casual, dismissive and petty comments.”
The Telugu Desam Party has preferred to “wait and watch” before deciding the next course of action.
A senior TDP leader, who spoke to The Hindu from Hyderabad, said the issue involved people’s sentiments and he would wait for the move of the Congress and the TRS on the committee. “Let the Congress first bring unity among its ranks and elected representatives then we will also react,” he said. He charged the Congress with trying to take advantage of the situation.
Union Law Minister and Congress general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh M. Veerappa Moily appealed to all parties not to make any comment and instead cooperate with the committee for its smooth functioning.
Andhra Pradesh Congress MPs’ convener and Karimnagar Lok Sabha member Ponnam Prabhakar welcomed the terms of reference and expressed the hope that the committee would recommend creation of the Telangana State.
“By the same time next year we will be celebrating the formation of Telangana,” he said confidently.
