Naidu Flies into Rage over Draft Telangana Bill

Naidu Flies into Rage over Draft Telangana Bill

       Agitated by the haste with which the Centre is pushing the Telangana process, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday flew into a rage at the Congress for ignoring the larger interests of the people in its pursuit to gain political benefit out of bifurcation of the state.

    “Who has given right to the Congress to play with the lives of the people? What is the hurry? Why should an official bring the draft bill from Delhi to Hyderabad in a special flight? The Congress does not have any qualms over the disastrous consequences to the state because of its mindless and thoughtless decision to divide the state,” Chandrababu Naidu burst out at a news conference at his residence.

Naidu said that since the T process began, the Congress has given a go-by to all established norms and conventions as it was in a hurry to divide the state. “You (Sonia Gandhi) and your party (Congress) would be relinquishing office in just a few months from now. Before leaving, why do you want to cause a deep injury on the psyche of the people?” Naidu asked.

At one stage, Naidu was so overcome with emotion that he kept shouting at the top of his voice, questioning the motive of the Congress in dividing the state. “We know what we should do. Do not take us for granted because we are requesting you not to take any hasty decision. We know what we should do and we will definitely do,” he said.

Though he was emotionally surcharged, he did allow himself get caught off guard when a scribe asked him whether the TDP would support or reject the draft bill when it is presented in the Assembly for discussion. “We will do what will be the best thing to do,” he said. Naidu was very angry with TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao and YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy who he said were responsible for the division. “Both of them are being used by the Congress to hurt the interests of the people of the state. It is because of these two people that this misfortunate had befallen the state,” he said.

Naidu made an attempt to build an argument that the Congress had no interest in following the recommendations of the committees that it only had constituted to study the issue of bifurcation. “You have appointed four committees. Of them the latest ones - Justice BN Srikrishna Committee and the Antony Committee had submitted their reports. You did not give damn to what they were saying,” he said, and read out from the Antony Committee report among others on how law and order scene in Telangana would turn if the state is divided.

“There are so many other issues that the Antony Committee had raised. You have never bothered to pay any attention to them. What the Antony Committee recommends does not find place in GOM and what GOM suggests does not find place in the draft T bill. The draft bill is taken as a table item in the cabinet without giving ministers any time to study it. Similarly when GOM was constituted, it too came up as a table item. This amply demonstrates the Congress’ lack of interest to listen to sane advice and go ahead with bifurcation,” he said, wondering whether it was proper for a party of 125 years of existence to stoop to the level of dividing the state for the sake of few seats.