No haste on Telangana, PM tells Andhra MPs

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Friday hinted that Telangana will not become the 29th state of India anytime soon.

Singh assured a delegation of Congress MPs from Rayalseema and coastal Andhra in Parliament that the decision on dividing Andhra Pradesh to create Telangana state will not be taken in haste.

Andhra MPs who met the Prime Minister in Parliament told him that mass resignation of MLAs in the state Assembly in protest against the move to create Telangana state showed that a resolution on the issue was not feasible.

Singh agreed with the MPs and promised them that the Congress Core Committee will look into the entire issue

Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju, who is also from Andhra Pradesh, said that people of Andhra Pradesh wanted a united state.

"We have apprised the Prime Minister of sentiments of people of Rayalseema and Andhra region who want a united Andhra Pradesh," said Raju.

"We believe that the decision taken by the Centre was after an all-party meeting which had indicated that they would support a resolution on Telangana. But resignations cutting across party lines have shown there is no support for Telangana," claimed Raju.

Rosaiah while addressing the media in Hyderabad pointed out that Union Home Minister P Chidambaram while announcing the Centre's decision to initiate the process for creating Telangana had said that a resolution on the issue would be brought into the Andhra Assembly.

"Chidambaram said that at an appropriate time the resolution would be introduced. No date can be fixed for resolution but the process has begun. Even during the time of YSR (YS Rajashekhara Reddy), the process had begun," said Rosaiah.

He appealed for peace and sought the cooperation of all political parties to tide over the crisis.

Rosaiah made the appeal in Hyderabad after 128 MLAs in the 295-member Assembly resigned to protest the creation of Telangana.

"We are getting reports that students and others in the coastal Andhra region are agitating. Police has entered into Andhra University in Vishakapatanam and is trying to maintain law and order. Universities have been closed down in most of areas of Andhra and Rayalseema," said the Chief Minister.

"MLAs should have discussed it in the Assembly. The Political Affairs Committee has discussed it and Speaker will discuss the issue before taking any decision," Rosaiah said on the resignation by MLAs.

He also claimed that his government still enjoyed the majority in the Assembly despite 76 Congress MLAs having put in their papers.

"It is not just Congress MLAs. Other party MLAs have also resigned," he said pointing to 38 MLAs of Telugu Desam Party and 14 of Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party have submitted their resignation.

Congress has 156 MLAs, while 92 belong to the TDP and 46 to other smaller parties. One member is nominated from the Anglo-Indian community.

The bandh called by political parties in coastal Andhra and Rayalseema over the Telangana issue tuned violent in many areas with protestors ransacking a branch of the HSBC in Vishakapatanam, which is part of coastal Andhra.

The protestors damaged computers and vandalised office furniture after the bank refused to shut down.

While protests were peaceful in Vijaywada and other parts of Vishakapatanam, some buses were stoned and attacked in Anantpur and Nellore of Rayalseema region.

Pro and anti-Telangana advocates also clashed inside the premises of the High Court. The lawyers shouted slogans and attacked each other. Some of the lawyers were injured in the scuffle.

In Tirupati and Chittoor anti-Telangana protestors set APSRTC buses on fire.

Chidambaram had late on Wednesday night said that a separate state of Telangana out of 10 districts of Andhra would be carved out.

The announcement came after Telangana Rashtra Samthi President K Chandrashekhar Rao went on a hunger strike for a separate state. There were violent protests all over Telangana including Hyderabad which also comes under the region.

KCR, who had to be admitted to the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad after his health started to deteriorate, continued his hunger strike for 11 days and broke his fast only on Wednesday night after Chidambaram’s announcement. He was discharged from the hospital on Friday morning.