Srikrishna Committee report on Telangana evokes mixed response

NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD - The Srikrishna Committee report on Telangana has drawn criticism from various political outfits, who have dismissed the report and reiterating their demand for introduction of a separate state bill in Parliament asked the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre to take some appropriate step in this regard.

Terming the report as a part-time exercise, the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday said its stand that the committee was useless has been vindicated.

“It was a useless report and entire work of the committee was a time-pass exercise. There was no need for the party to study the report, as BJP never recognised Srikrishna Committee right from the beginning,” said BJP State President G Kishan Reddy.

“The BJP, which is in favour of separate statehood for Telangana region, will lead a peaceful people’s agitation until it achieves the separate Telangana state,” he added.

The BJP state chief further emphasizing that there was need for a political decision on the issue said the party will plan out a future plan at its meeting on January 11.

“Separate statehood for Telangana region could not be achieved through committees,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said the BJP had been saying that bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was the only solution and the UPA Government should take appropriate steps in this regard.

“Congress party had separate Telangana state as one of its election promises in the 2004 general elections. It enjoyed power in the first term of UPA. Later, it constituted the Justice Srikrishna Committee on the issue. But, this did not help except prolonging the issue,” Naidu told reporters on Thursday.

“The committee’s recommendations will not solve the problem. The only political solution is introducing the Telangana Bill in Parliament,” he added.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said: “The Srikrishna Commission report shows they [UPA] deliberately want to delay the issue. We want Telangana at the earliest.”

Political parties in Andhra Pradesh stood vertically split on Thursday as contents of the Justice Srikrishna Commission report on the feasibility of a separate Telangana state became public.

CPM, which is opposed to creation of a Telangana state, asked the government to take a decision now as the stage of soliciting views of political parties was over.

“We and other parties have given our views [on Telangana] repeatedly. Now, we want the government to do what it wants to do,” said CPM party politburo member Sitaram Yechury.

Separatist Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) dismissed the report and reiterated their demand for introduction of a separate state bill in the Parliament.

Rejecting outright anything less than a separate Telangana, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao said: “People of Telangana are not ready to accept anything short of Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital. I earnestly appeal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to dilly-dally on Telangana and come forward and fulfill the promise made on December 9, 2009, to form Telangana.”

“We don’t think the committee has achieved anything or provided any permanent solution. We don’t want to go into details of the report since we don’t recognise it. We want nothing short of Telangana and that too a Telangana of 1956 with Hyderabad as capital,” he added.

The Justice Srikrishna Committee has in its report recommended, six options, including the creation of a separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital, and keeping Andhra Pradesh united with constitutional and statutory measures for empowerment of the Telangana region.

The Union Home Ministry released the report that was presented after eleven months of consultation process by the five-member committee headed by former Supreme Court judge on Thursday.

The report by the five-member panel said that this can be done through the establishment of a statutory Telangana Regional Council with adequate transfer of funds and functionaries.

It says that the Regional Council would also provide a legislative consultative mechanism for the subjects to be dealt by the Council. The report says that in the given circumstances and keeping the national perspective in mind, this option stands out as the best way forward.

The report has also said that creating a separate state of Telangana is the second best option to tackle the statehood demand. The panel argues that separate state is recommended only in case it is unavoidable and this decision can be reached amicably amongst all three regions.

The Committee has suggested six options in its report which was submitted to the Centre last week after wide ranging consultations in Andhra Pradesh since the panel was set up in February last year.

The Committee itself says that four of the six options are either impractical, or may invite backlash or may not be acceptable to all the three regions.

These four options are maintaining the status quo, bifurcating the state into Seemandhra and Telangana with Hyderabad as Union Territory and the states having their own capitals, Bifurcation into Rayala-Telangana and coastal Andhra regions with Hyderabad as part of Rayala-Telangana and bifurcation into Seemandhra and Telangana with enlarged Hyderabad metropolis as a separate Union Territory. (ANI)