No bowing to pressure: Srikrishna

COOL AND CALM: Justice B.N. Srikrishna speaks to media persons in Hyderabad on Thursday. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

Justice B.N. Srikrishna, Chairman of the Committee for Consultations on the Situation in Andhra Pradesh, has said that the panel would not bow to political pressure.

?There is no pressure from any quarter on our functioning. Nobody has ever tried to pressurise me, not even my parents,? he said when asked whether there was scope for any political pressure.

Justice Srikrishna who was accompanied by other members of the panel held a series of day-long consultations with Andhra Intellectuals Forum, Telangana Jagruti and Telangana Writers' Association at the Lake View Guest House on Thursday.

Talking to reporters, he denied reports that Chief Minister K. Rosaiah and Chief Secretary S.V. Prasad had requested the Centre to restrict the committee from staying longer in the State as it would lead to law and order problems. ?The committee will function on its own. We have not received information about any objection to our visit,? he said.

Consultations

He said the committee would hold consultations with the Telugu Desam Party, MIM and Indian Union Muslim League for three days from Monday to Wednesday and with the Congress on May 17 and 18.

Three groups of the TDP had approached the panel and it had decided to give time to all the three.

Asked how the Committee planned to deal with the loads of information it received from various stakeholders, he said: ?It is the duty of the judge to separate the grain from the chaff?. The entire process was progressing smoothly and ?very much on schedule?.

?The main aim is to meet as many people as possible and accommodate as many views as possible,? Member-secretary V.K. Duggal said.

He said the ongoing consultations with political parties were likely to continue till mid-June followed by visits to other regions in July to gather further information. Asked about complaints from some political parties, the CPI in particular, that the government was not making information available to them to present their case, Justice Srikrishna advised them to use the Right To Information Act.