Telangana: A new year present?

Nizamabad: Playing up the Telangana issue, BJP leader L K Advani today accused the UPA government of going back on its promise and dragging the region into misery and asked it to shun its “indecisiveness” to make the statehood dream a reality by New Year. “I hope that in year 2012 this long held desire of the Telangana people will be met. By January 1, 2012, the dream of Telangana will be realised provided Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi take a firm decision and present the necessary bill in the beginning of the Winter Session of Parliament,” he said. Advani asserted that there was no need for an assembly resolution for the formation of the state of Telangana and Parliament could form a separate state within the winter session itself. “These days I have been hearing that first of all what is needed is a resolution by the state assembly or something of that effect. Let me emphasise that the Constitution of India does not provide anything of that kind,” Advani said. [caption id=“attachment_111490” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Advani asserted that there was no need for an assembly resolution for the formation of the state of Telangana. Reuters”]  [/caption] In a press conference during his yatra, the former Deputy Prime Minister said that, “It is UPA-II which in its last two years has been absolutely indecisive and this region of Andhra has been very badly affected by this condition of the UPA. “The government itself through its then Home Minister announced that they would be forming the state of Telangana but within 15 days they went back on the promise with the result that this region is in a condition today which has not been witnessed in any part of the country in the 60 years,” Advani said, adding, “It is a shocking state of affairs that only because the government cannot take a decision, the youth in the region are committing suicide.” Referring to the carving out of Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh, he said two chief ministers of the undivided states had publicly opposed the formation of these states. “So we suggested that the NDA government in New Delhi will carve out these states because the formation of the new states under Article 3 is the responsibility of the central government and Parliament,” he added. “If Parliament decides there is no obligation mandatory or otherwise of assembly passing resolution and in this particular case if only the Government of India makes up its mind, with the support of the principal opposition, namely the BJP there would be absolutely no hurdle in passing a Bill for the formation of Telangana in the winter session of the Parliament,” the BJP leader said. Asked why his party ignored the feelings of non-Telangana regions, Advani said he appreciated the sentiments of people who favour a united Andhra Pradesh but the BJP supports smaller states for administrative convenience. Citing newspaper reports that there was a possibility of government taking a decision on the formation of Telangana, Advani said he saw a “ray of hope”. “If this is true I will be very happy but often one feels that the government is in a state of confusion and has lost its ability of decision making. As no one is the last word in the government, such stories are floated only to assuage the anger of the people,” he said. “So far as my party is concerned we hold that the demand of Telangana is justified,” he said and stressed that should not been any hostility among the regions. “As Home Minister I had to initiate the creation of three new states. The three states were formed without even a murmur,” Advani added. He said that being from Sindh which was once a part of Bombay presidency, he understood the sentiment for larger states but held that states should be “administratively viable.” Disapproving of the shoe attack on Anna Hazare team member Arvind Kejriwal, the BJP leader said there is no scope of violence in a democracy. “In a democracy, there is no scope for violence of any kind. If a person holds a different point of view, he is entitled to that,” he told reporters in Andhra Pradesh. Asked about the issue of BJP prime ministerial candidate, he said the yatra is “not connected either to Advani or BJP but is about the state of affairs in the country” PTI