— PHOTO: K. Ramesh Babu

MASS PROTEST: CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat addressing a public meeting in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

HYDERABAD: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said here on Wednesday that separate statehood was no solution for the problems of Telangana.

While issues such as lack of an inclusive approach in development and disrespect for Telangana's sub-culture should be addressed, he said similar problems were faced in other linguistic States such as Karnataka. "But, we still see the benefit of linguistic States," he said in an interaction with journalists.

Mr. Karat said his party opposed the reorganisation of States into smaller units, either for administrative convenience as advocated by the Bharatiya Janata Party or for other reasons. He said smaller States like those in the North-East were forced to bow before the Centre for funds.

Mr. Karat said it was wrong on the part of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to have left the United Progressive Alliance. "But, they had come on the sole plank of separate Telangana to which most of the UPA partners were unwilling."

Responding to a question, Mr. Karat emphatically ruled out the possibility of a mid-term election to the Lok Sabha since the UPA constituents were more or less united and the Left parties, whose support was crucial, were not in the business of destabilising governments. "I don't think the Congress party will go for polls."

Mr. Karat, who is here as part of a campaign outside the three Left Front-ruled States on the UPA Government's two-year rule, said his party wanted a new alternative to emerge. He said the CPI (M) while extending support to the UPA Government differed with it on a number of economic issues. For example, his party favoured restoration of the long-term capital gains tax.

Alternative

The alternative his party was looking for extended beyond economic issues but the CPI (M) was neither in a hurry nor in search of new alliances for electoral purposes. On the party's alliance with the Telugu Desam Party during the local bodies' elections in Andhra Pradesh, he said it was a short-term arrangement that paid dividends to the CPI (M).

He disagreed that there was no unity among the Left parties and said that, in fact, it had strengthened, especially in the States ruled by them. On reservation of seats for Muslims, he said the CPI (M) favoured other affirmative actions such as dedicated finances.

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