It is Parliament which will decide: Srikrishna

Justice B.N. Srikrishna, chairman of the committee for consultations on the situation in Andhra Pradesh, categorically said that a final decision on the formation of separate Telangana should be taken by Parliament. “The Andhra Pradesh Government cannot decide on separate Telangana and ultimately the bill has to be passed by Parliament. It is for Parliament to make up its mind and the ongoing process of consultations is part of that effort,” he said. The view of the local people in the whole exercise was a big factor and “we are consulting the people to get a feel of the situation.”

Statement

Justice Srikrishna was reacting to a query from reporters on Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram's statement on Telangana in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that the solution to the problem of Telangana, the demand for Telangana and the opposition to it did not lie in Delhi but in Andhra Pradesh. He said he had gone through the statement. He, however, added: “I assume Mr. Chidambaram doesn't want to enter into a controversy as a committee had been constituted and we are formally addressing the issue.”

Asked whether the committee was suggesting alternatives to representatives with whom it was holding consultations, he said it was part of the panel's responsibility to examine all options. “Somebody speaks in favour of Telangana, while some others oppose it. If they say there can't be Telangana, we have to ask why it can't be,” he said.

Justice Srikrishna said the committee had received more than 1.2 lakh representations, including some that were well argued and documented. Since there were a lot of complex issues involved, the committee was categorising the representations based on their seriousness and it would invite people for consultations based on the issues they represented.

Presentations

The committee held fruitful discussions with the Telangana Intellectuals Forum and other organisations which had no political ambitions or connections and these committees made useful presentations on different issues. The panel had a busy schedule next week when it would meet three delegations from the TDP besides one each from the AIMIM and IUML besides representatives of Samaikhyandhra joint action committee and the NTR-TDP chief Lakshmi Parvati.