A few days ahead of the introduction of Telangana Bill in the Parliament, BJP senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu took strong objection to the Congress party’s overall approach to the bifurcation process and dubbed the Bill approved by the Union Cabinet as ‘nothing but an empty hand’ shown by the ruling party to the aggrieved people of respective regions of Andhra Pradesh.
He expressed dismay at how several top leaders of the Congress including a member of the Group of Ministers held consultations with him, noted down wide-ranging suggestions and yet failed to incorporate the same in the Cabinet-approved bill.
Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu said that the merger of Polavaram submergence areas was the only suggestion which was solved and they would have to wait and see whether acceptable changes regarding other aspects would be made in the next two to three days.
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Listing out the concerns raised by the BJP, Mr. Naidu deplored that the Bill did not provide lawful protection to irrigation projects which were based on surplus waters of the Krishna river and which would be in risk as some leaders were saying they would review such projects after division.
He criticised the Centre for not making clear-cut financial commitments to the residuary Andhra Pradesh which would be left with nearly Rs. 7,000 crore deficit budget, a defect which was among the core concerns of Seemandhra people.