Telangana singes Delhi
8 Oct 2013 12:21 AM GMT
Union ministers from Seemandhra region M Pallam Raju, K Chiranjeevi, D Purandeswari and Surya Prakash Reddy on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and requested him to accept their resignations over the Telangana issue. The prime minister told the four ministers that he will look into their request, said minister D Purandeswari.
At the meeting with the ministers, union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was present to take stock of the apprehensions expressed by his colleagues from the region. ‘There are some violent protests taking place over the Centre’s decision. I urge people to maintain peace and assure the citizens of Seemandhra that their interest would be protected,’ Shinde later told the reporters.
Earlier in the day, Chandrababu Naidu began an indefinite fast to protest against the bifurcation of the state. He accused the Congress of playing politics in view of the Lok Sabha polls, but remained unclear on the Telangana issue.
Accusing the Congress and the central government of not holding discussions and taking the decision ‘arbitrarily’ to split the state, he said the Seemandhra region has plunged into chaos. ‘People in Andhra Pradesh are losing confidence in the political system. We are all party to that,’ he said. He chose the Italian word ‘immobilismo’, which means standstill, to describe the situation in Andhra Pradesh. ‘The government in Delhi understands Italian language. I want to use it,’ he said. Naidu, who visited Rajghat to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi before launching his fast, contended that Congress wanted to win votes in both Telangana and Seemandhra regions with the support of TRS and YSR Congress party of Jaganmohan Reddy.
Asked whether he was in favour of formation of Telangana or not and his party’s support to the new state extended in 2008, Naidu was ambivalent saying all the three regions are same to him. ‘As a father if I have three children, I will treat all the children as same,’ he said.
Meanwhile, the anti-Telangana protests entered the fourth day in Seemandhra region on Monday. The power shutdown crippled normal life in 13 districts of Seemandhra as Power Employees’ Joint Action Committee called an indefinite strike on Sunday morning. According to media reports, 20 policemen and 30 protesters were injured. Dozens of agitators were arrested.
At the meeting with the ministers, union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was present to take stock of the apprehensions expressed by his colleagues from the region. ‘There are some violent protests taking place over the Centre’s decision. I urge people to maintain peace and assure the citizens of Seemandhra that their interest would be protected,’ Shinde later told the reporters.
Earlier in the day, Chandrababu Naidu began an indefinite fast to protest against the bifurcation of the state. He accused the Congress of playing politics in view of the Lok Sabha polls, but remained unclear on the Telangana issue.
Accusing the Congress and the central government of not holding discussions and taking the decision ‘arbitrarily’ to split the state, he said the Seemandhra region has plunged into chaos. ‘People in Andhra Pradesh are losing confidence in the political system. We are all party to that,’ he said. He chose the Italian word ‘immobilismo’, which means standstill, to describe the situation in Andhra Pradesh. ‘The government in Delhi understands Italian language. I want to use it,’ he said. Naidu, who visited Rajghat to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi before launching his fast, contended that Congress wanted to win votes in both Telangana and Seemandhra regions with the support of TRS and YSR Congress party of Jaganmohan Reddy.
Asked whether he was in favour of formation of Telangana or not and his party’s support to the new state extended in 2008, Naidu was ambivalent saying all the three regions are same to him. ‘As a father if I have three children, I will treat all the children as same,’ he said.
Meanwhile, the anti-Telangana protests entered the fourth day in Seemandhra region on Monday. The power shutdown crippled normal life in 13 districts of Seemandhra as Power Employees’ Joint Action Committee called an indefinite strike on Sunday morning. According to media reports, 20 policemen and 30 protesters were injured. Dozens of agitators were arrested.
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