Aruna challenges KCR for debate on districts

Hyderabad, Sept 3 (INN): Describing the reorganisation of districts as completely unscientific, Congress senior leader and former minister D.K. Aruna on Saturday challenged Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for a public debate on the reorganization of the districts and the strategy adopted for the same.

Aruna, along with former PCC President Ponnala Lakshmaiah and Alampur MLA A. Sampath Kumar, who launched a two-day hunger strike at Dharna Chowk of Indira Park here on Saturday, found fault with the TRS Government accusing it of creating the new districts to drive political mileage. She said that there was no scientific approach in the reorganization of the districts and this would burden the people of the state.

The Congress leader, who has been demanding the creation of Gadwal district in Mahbubnagar, said that none of the political parties expressed satisfaction with the strategy adopted by the government on the reorganization of the district during the all party meeting called by the state government last month. Challenging KCR for an open debate, said she would wait for the Chief Minister at Dharna Chowk till Sunday evening. She said that KCR should come up with detailed explanation on the basis on which new districts were being formed. "If the Chief Minister is unable to come to Dharna Chowk, then he should send his son K. Tarakarama Rao (IT Minister) or son-in-law T. Harish Rao (Irrigation Minister) on his behalf," she said.

Aruna said people of Gadwal have been staging demonstrations for the last two months seeking district status. However, the Chief Minister has decided to reorganise Mahabubnagar district by creating Wanaparthy district. She said Gadwal was of historic importance and is known across the world for its silk. It was a revenue division during Nizam's period and was among a few places which had rail connectivity. "Gadwal is rich in natural resources and it has all required infrastructure needed for a district. Instead of giving importance to these factors, the Chief Minister gave prominence to politics and did not include Gadwal in the list of proposed districts," she said.

The Congress leader said that compared to Gadwal, Wanaparthy was being made a district only to benefit TRS leader and Telangana State Planning Board Vice-Chairman Niranjan Reddy. She alleged that the Chief Minister was directly targeting Congress leaders in the guise of districts' reorganisation. "Gadwal is a stronghold of Congress party and that is the only reason why KCR is not giving it the status of a district," she said.

Ponnala, who has been demanding formation of Jangaon district, asked as to why the Chief Minister went back on his promise of making Jangaon the 11th district of Telangana. He alleged that the entire process of districts' reorganisation was driven by cheap politics of KCR.

The dharna camp was also addressed by Leaders of Opposition K. Jana Reddy (Assembly) and Mohammed Ali Shabbir (Council), TPCC Working President Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Nagarkurnool MP Nandi Yellah, MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, former union minister Balram Naik, former ministers P. Sabitha Indira Reddy and Marri Sashidhar Reddy, ex-MP Ponnam Prabhakar, Mahabubnagar DCC president Obaidullah Kotwal and other leaders.