HYDERABAD: Congress MLAs presented a divided picture on Wednesday over the issue of implementing the Girglani Commission's report on repatriation of non-local employees of the Government to their native zones.

A section of Congress MLAs from coastal Andhra made no secret of their discontent over the Cabinet's recent decision to implement in toto the commission's report. On the other hand, ruling party MLAs from Telangana opposed any move to dilute this decision.

A similar predicament faced the Telugu Desam Party on this issue. The party's whip in the Assembly, P. Keshav, who belongs to Rayalaseema, wanted people of all regions to be represented in Hyderabad whereas E. Dayakar Rao, MLA from Warangal district, favoured implementation of the six-point formula and the Girglani Commission's report.

Unexpected support

The support to the Government came from an expected though hostile quarter -- the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) -- which stopped short of hailing the Cabinet decision. The party's floor leader in the Assembly, G. Vijayarama Rao, said Hyderabad was neither a free zone nor a neutral zone as claimed by Andhra leaders. "It is the sixth zone as mentioned in the Presidential Order," he added.

The opposition, however, came from a group of a dozen coastal Andhra MLAs led by Gade Venkat Reddy who trooped into the chambers of Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy in the Assembly demanding status quo on the issue of non-locals in Hyderabad. Unsatisfied by Dr. Reddy's response, they later held a press conference demanding that Hyderabad be maintained as a neutral zone.

Countering their demand, Congress MLAs from Telangana said that any move to declare Hyderabad a free zone would be resisted strongly. D. Sridhar Babu and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy said neither the commission report, the Presidential Order nor the High Court's order ever mentioned the term "free zone" and hence the State capital could not be exempted from the purview of GO 610.

Keshava talks tough

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Keshava Rao had earlier brushed aside the demand of the coastal MLAs and said Hyderabad could not be considered a free zone.

Meanwhile, at a meeting attended by representatives of political parties, the Andhra Pradesh NGOs Association criticised the Government for not consulting it before taking a decision on the commission's report.

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