A 23-member team of MPs, MLAs and MLCs from Seemandhra region met the AICC general secretary Mr. Gulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday and pleaded with him to keep the state united. The leaders told Azad that the creation of the separate state of Telangana would lead to demands for a separate Rayalaseema and North Andhra states as well. The Seemandhra delegation consisted of seven ministers S Sailajanath, E Pratap Reddy, G Aruna, T G Venkatesh, A Ahmadullah, P Bala Raju and K Parthasarathi.
Gulam Nabi Azad gave a patient hearing to the delegation and assured thaem that this was only a preliminary meeting and he would be holding three more such meetings. Sources said that as the meeting saw discussion mainly on the unity of the Telugu people, the AICC general secretary asked the leaders to come prepared on the status of Hyderabad and water related issues, the next time. "Next time I will ask questions and you have to give convincing answers," Azad told the meeting, according to a minister in the delegation. In an interesting turn of events, the 23-member delegation reportedly backed the state government's decision on the need to repeal the 14F Clause from the Presidential Order of 1975.
In the three-hour long meeting, the leaders tried to debunk the theories of injustice done to Telangana by presenting historical and statistical documents in support of the contrary. Senior MP Kavuri Sambasiva Rao explained how the arguments being put forth to buttress the demand for a separate Telangana were wrong. Law Minister E Prathap Reddy, who represents Srisailam constituency said "We have explained how the nation is being misguided by Telangana leaders, who are saying that Telangana was colonized by the rich from Seemandhra."
Stating that in recent times nearly 52 lac people had migrated to Hyderabad and its surrounding areas, Pratap Reddy said you could brand all these people migrated to Hyderabad for livelihood as capitalists. The result of the migration is that Telangana gained 12 assembly seats and we lost. It was Telangana which was the principal beneficiary of the state policies on irrigation. "Since 1956, the irrigation in Telangana has increased by 420 per cent, as compared to the increase in Rayalaseema which is just 50 per cent," he said, adding that Rayalaseema should get a financial package first if centre is keen to mitigate backward areas. Another minister Shailajanath said that the delegation had thoroughly disproved the arguements in favour of a separate Telangana state and impressed upon Mr. Azad the the division of state would hurt all three regions.
Azad asked the Rayalaseema leaders to meet him separately with their requests and arguments in favour of a united Andhra Pradesh. Some Rayalaseema leaders reportedly also presented Azad with a Rayalaseema map to examine the feasibility of carving out another separate state. Sources said that two representations, one for Rayalaseema and the other for the coastal regions had been presented to Azad.
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