Parties condemn YSRCP's walkout over T-Bill

Hyderabad, Jan 17 (INN): All political parties, including the Congress, condemned the YSR Congress Party for staging a walkout over the Telangana Bill.

Speaking after YSRCP MLAs led by YS Vijaya Lakshmi staged a walkout from the State Legislative Assembly on Friday, Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy said that it was "illogical" to stage a walkout on the same issue twice.

He said it was the YSRCP leadership that asked the Centre to divide the State under Article 3. However, the same party was now opposing the Centre's decision and blaming the Congress party for State's bifuration. He described the YSRCP's decision as a "political drama" aimed at misleading the people.

TDP member Payyavula Keshav claimed that it was late YS Rajasekhara Reddy who strengthened the Telangana movement. He led a delegation of 42 Congress legislators to the Congress High Command before 2004 elections demanding statehood for Telangana.

He alleged that the YSRCP was covertly supporting the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh although it was "enacting dramas" to prove its stand on Samaikhyandhra.

Keshav said that the YSRCP knows well that the Telangana Bill woud be subjected to voting at any time. However, it was staging a walkout to escape from the process of voting. He said that the YSRCP had only 17 members in the House while Vijayamma had been wrongly claiming that her party had 22 MLAs.

TRS member KT Rama Rao strongly condemned YSRCP's demand for voting on Telangana Bill. He said that the President of India had sent the Bill to seek Assembly's view and it does not mean that the opinion be expressed only through voting.

He admitted that YSR had sown the seed for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh even before the TRS became a political force. He said YSR forged an alliance with the TRS knowing well that the latter was fighting with a single agenda of achieving statehood for the region.

Legislative Affairs Minister S Sailajanath tried to defend YSR by claiming that although the late Chief Minister agreed to abide by the decision of the Congress High Command, he had made it clear that the concerns and apprehensions of the people must be addressed before taking a final decision on Telangana. He accused the TRS of causing damage to the interests of the people of Telangana region.

These comments triggered protests from the TRS members who rushed to the Speaker's podium and demanded an unconditional apology from the minister. They called off their protest at the podium on the advice of the Speaker.

Reacting to these comments, KTR said that Sailajanath was speaking more like the convener of Seemandhra Legislators Forum than as the Legislative Affairs Minister.