Hyderabad, December 12
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao today asserted that there would be no compromise on separate Telangana state. He expressed confidence that the UPA government would honour its commitment.
Terming as “artificial hype” the ongoing protests against the Centre’s move to carve out Telangana state, Rao, who ended his 11-day fast after the Union Government’s announcement, said, “I have lot of faith in Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. Having made an announcement on behalf of the Government of India, now it is up to them to solve the problem.”
Making it clear that Hyderabad, the main bone of contention between Telangana protagonists and integrationists, would be the capital of Telangana, he rejected the suggestion that the city could be a joint capital on the lines of Chandigarh.
“Hyderabad cannot be compared with Chandigarh. It is not a new bifurcation. Telangana state existed earlier with Hyderabad as its capital while Andhra state had Kurnool as its capital,” KCR, as the TRS chief is known in political circles, said in an interview to a national news channel.
He said passing a resolution in the state Assembly was not necessary to create Telangana state. “It is a formality for the Government of India to keep the state Assembly informed, stipulating a period of time for them to express of their view, but no endorsement is required. If they don’t express their views within the stipulated time, the process is deemed to be complete,” he said.
The Telangana leader said he would not set any deadline for the UPA government for the creation of the new state.
On the contentious status of Hyderabad in the event of Telangana formation, KCR said “settlers” from coastal Andhra constituted only 5 per cent of the city population. “How can they (migrants from coastal Andhra)
claim Hyderabad? Does it make any sense?” he said.
However, he assured people of other regions of the state who have settled in Hyderabad that they could continue to live here in peace after the formation of the new state.
Asked about the protests and resignations by people’s representatives from other two regions, he said these things were being “stage-managed and sponsored by vested interests” that had invested money and acquired land illegally in Hyderabad.
