TRS presents its case

Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee began its hearing here on Friday with Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who was leading a delegation to present a 600-page report on why he was fighting for a separate Telangana State.

Mr. Rao, who was accompanied by party MP Vijayashanti and senior functionary C. Jaishankar, after his four-hour meeting with the Committee, told journalists that the Committee was satisfied with the meeting and “they told us that our presentations were informative.”

“Our resources are being deployed in some other area. In polity also, we are not getting what we are supposed to get. So, we stressed the need for Telangana,” he said.

The Committee would hold another round of consultations with TRS, if necessary. It would visit Hyderabad on April 22 to continue its proceedings.

Special Correspondent from Hyderabad adds:

Mr. Rao said people, parties and organisations of Telangana area had an undivided voice on the issue of separate statehood unlike the people of rest of the State who held divergent views. Some sections were favouring either united AP, separate Andhra, separate Rayalaseema or separate North Coastal Andhra, he noted.

He said the delegation led by him including Vijayashanti, N. Narasimha Reddy, K. Jayashankar and others, discussed with the committee 10 subjects related to Telangana and clarified members' doubts. “We reiterated that merger of Hyderabad (Telangana) with Andhra was neither unconditional nor eternal.” Gentlemen's Agreement was one of the conditions.

However, the accord was violated completely and the argument for staying together (united AP) was meaningless as any alliance could not be forced, the TRS chief pointed out. People of Telangana were seeking statehood for self-respect and self-rule.

The division among people of different regions was vertical and psychological and it was evident in the fact that even MLAs, MPs, lawyers and government employees from the areas were unable to sit together.

Stating that only Congress had the capacity to give Telangana he urged the ruling party to remain committed to its promise.