The Telangana Congress leaders have reiterated that creation of separate State would not adversely impact the people and bifurcation will, in fact, enable accelerated development of the two States.
The economically, socially and culturally developed coastal Andhra will actually prosper more as it has well established and developed ports while Telangana is fully economically viable as justified by the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee report.
Rebutting claims of Seemandhra leaders, the Telangana Congress leaders asserted that option 6 suggested by the Srikrishna Committee on maintaining status quo with councils and committees was tested in the past not only in Andhra Pradesh but also in Punjab. It, however, failed to safeguard the rights of Telangana people. “Option 6 is a failure and not viable,” Congress MP G. Vivekanand said.
‘Fundamental mistakes'
In a counter to the detailed presentation to be made by AICC general secretary and AP affairs in-charge, Ghulam Nabi Azad by Seemandhra leaders earlier, Mr. Vivek highlighted the “fundamental mistakes” in it and recalled that the option 5 suggested bifurcation as per existing boundaries with Hyderabad as capital of Telangana. Mr. Vivek's counter assumes significance in the light of another round of meeting Seemandhra leaders would have with Mr. Azad on Monday.
Mr. Vivek claimed the coastal Andhra people preferred merger of revenue-surplus Telangana to overcome the pathetic financial situation the coastal Andhra region was facing in view of their mounting fiscal deficit. There was no truth in the claims that the lethal combination of political instability coupled with Maoism would act as breeding ground for religious fundamentalism because of the sharp communal divide in the region as presented by the Seemandhra leaders.
Extremism
Extremism was curtailed in Telangana and it was more in coastal Andhra where more funds were allocated in the extremist affected districts, he said.
All the 14 safeguards assured for the region had been grossly violated and only 26 per cent of the income was spent on Telangana which contributed 56 per cent of the revenue to the State.
There was no representation of Telangana in the decision making level as the Chief Minister's post was held mostly by the Seemandhra people.
Educational opportunities of the locals were snatched away by people from other regions.
The claims that Hyderabad developed because of investors from Seemandhra was not appropriate as 90 per cent of investments came from MNCs and investors from outside Andhra Pradesh.
