The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Bardhan contradicts Narendra's claim

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 23, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Bardhan contradicts Narendra's claim

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, AUG. 22. The CPI general secretary, A. B. Bardhan, has said there was "no mention of Telangana" at the UPA meeting on August 18 in New Delhi. He read out from the agenda of the meeting and showed mediapersons the papers circulated there, none of which mentioned Telangana.

Emphatic denial

He said that despite both the Telangana Rashtra Samiti representatives (K. Chandrasekhar Rao and A. Narendra) being present at the meeting the issue was not raised even under the "any other matter" agenda point.

When his attention was directed to documents circulated by the TRS leader and Union Minister, A. Narendra, indicating that the Telangana issue had being discussed at this meeting, Mr. Bardhan's cryptic reply was, "It is not for me to say whether the document is fake or not." He claimed that he had never seen the papers presented by the TRS.

Other priorities

Mr. Bardhan said the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA Government, had clearly stated that the Telangana issue would be taken up "at the appropriate time" and would be preceded by "due consultations and consensus." He argued that the "appropriate time" had not yet come as the Government needed to urgently address basic issues like inflation, employment and the farm sector crisis.

"These cannot be brushed aside for Telangana," he said and added that it was "irrational" to expect the Government to ignore these problems and concentrate its energies on the Telangana demand. He advised the TRS to show patience.

He also added that Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy's concept of national consensus on Telangana was impractical. "Consensus does not mean that all 100 crore Indians have to agree to a decision," he said.

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