The ruling Congress government in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday decided to constitute a joint committee comprising members of both Assembly and Council to deliberate the issues relating to the formation of Telangana.
Chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy said further steps in this regard would be taken after the committee submits its report to the government.
However, the Opposition members dismissed this as an election ploy. Stating that this only revealed that the Congress had not yet taken any stand on separate statehood for Telangana, they said the committee was just an eyewash. The present Assembly would be dissolved shortly as the state would go for polls in May and it would be rendered ineffective once the election code comes into effect.
Making a statement on the final day of the Assembly session today, the chief minister said the government had no objection to the formation of Telangana state in-principle and felt that the time had come to move forward decisively on this issue. “The welfare of the people of the Telangana region is foremost on the agenda of the government,”' Reddy said.
He, however, said there were many issues that needed to be resolved before taking any decision. “The demand for the formation of a separate Telangana is a highly emotive issue,” he said, adding the minority community was opposed to a separate state and had expressed concern over safety of its people. Besides Telangana, there were demands for a separate state from the north coastal districts, Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra.
The UPA government had constituted a committee headed by Pranab Mukherjee but no consensus had been arrived at yet, he informed.
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Telangana Rashtra Samithi legislator Harish Rao dismissed the announcement of a new committee saying it would do no good for the cause of Telangana. He questioned the need and timing of the new committee when elections are due. BJP floor leader G Kishan Rao seconded his views and said the committee was Congress’ ploy to seek votes in the region.
Earlier in the day, finance minister K Rosaiah introduced an appropriation Bill, which was passed with a voice vote, to allow the government draw about Rs 44,000 crore to meet the expenditure of this year’s Rs 105,144 crore Budget for six months. The House was adjourned sine die.