The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Congress soft-pedalling Telangana issue: Swamy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 15, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Congress soft-pedalling Telangana issue: Swamy

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JUNE 14. The Janata Party president, Subramaniam Swamy, has said that the State of Telangana can be achieved by legal and constitutional means within a year, but the Congress Government at the Centre has no plans to do so.

He said the intentions of the Government were made clear in the address of the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, to the joint session of Parliament last week. It did not refer to the introduction of the Bill on the formation of the new State in Parliament, Dr. Swamy told a news conference here on Monday.

He added that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, should have objected to the non-inclusion of a reference to the Bill in Dr. Kalam's speech as it was drafted by the Union Cabinet of which he was a Minister. But, he had compromised on the issue of Telangana with the Congress and struck a secret deal with that party.

Dr. Swamy said the President's remarks that the State could be formed after "due consultations" were nothing but a "betrayal" of the Telangana movement. There was nothing left for consultations as the movement had already gained legitimacy. Such movements had resulted in the formation of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Even the States Reorganisation Commission and the late Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, were in favour of Telangana State. Yet, it was denied time and again.

The Janata Party president said the Congress Government at the Centre would not last more than a year. He reasoned that the Government would have to resort to hard measures to bridge the high fiscal deficit (11 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product) it had inherited from the NDA Government.

Dr. Swamy said his party would contest the Siddipet byelection. Later, at a meeting to mark the celebrations in connection with the victory of two party candidates in the Assembly election, Dr. Swamy said a private member's Bill on Statehood for Telangana would be tabled in Parliament at its next session by the party's working president, Vijay Mallya. Dr. Swamy said the Janata Party would not play the role of junior partner to the TRS.

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