YSRCP torchbearer of Samaikya movement: Bhumana

Hyderabad, Jan 27 (INN): Asserting that the Party has been the sole torchbearer in the fight for a united state, YSR Congress has said Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu have been leapfrogging on their stand and versions which lack clarity and conviction on the division issue.

'YSR Congress has been on the forefront in taking up the agitation for a united state while Kiran Kumar Reddy and N Chandrababu Naidu have been fooling people with their ambiguity and double speak on one hand and have been blaming us for being separatists, an argument that has absolutely no base,' party MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy told reporters here on Monday.

The Chief Minister who kept the doors wide open for the division Bill to land in the Assembly, suddenly wakes up from the slumber 60 days later and gives a notice to the Speaker to reject the draft Bill as it has many setbacks and is not acceptable.

Leader of Opposition also joins the issue with him, not because he is in full agreement with the Chief Minister but he could see a way to wriggle out from the precarious situation he is in as his members have been speaking in tune with their regional affiliations.

It was YSRCP that has raised the banner of revolt against the division and submitted countless representations to the President, Governor, Chief Minister and Speaker to convene the assembly and pass a resolution in favour of a united state and reject the Bill as it is against the federal spirit.

Though we have given notices under rule 77 and 78 that we cannot take up the discussion and the draft Bill should be sent back, our view point was not considered.

Kiran Kumar Reddy and Naidu have been repeating every word of ours and have been taking the very same stand we have taken some months back. We spoke against the division ahead of the Congress Core Committee meeting and CWC decision.

'If people are emulating us, we consider that our stand is vindicated but if the same parties and people issue statements belittling our effort in their friendly media it is the worst form of politicking. People know very well who has first taken the united state slogan.

Though we were aware that we have to face some rough weather in one region, we have kept people's interests above political considerations unlike TDP and Congress that had put their political interest first showing no concern to the sentiments of the people,' he said.

'Our Party President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was the first to undertake indefinite fast while he was in jail against the bifurcation of the State and he undertook the fast again after coming out from jail and our Honorary President YS Vijaymma had also undertook fast at Guntur.TDP and Congress leaders were nowhere in the picture then,' he said.

The Party has been consistently raising the slogan of a united state in the assembly and outside while Kiran Kumar Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu, who have been following the Delhi dictates, have been very inconsistent on the issue.

Chief Minister till yesterday said that there should be discussion on the Bill and now he took a u-turn saying that Bill is full of loopholes and should be sent back.

When the movement was at its peak, the chief minister played the role of a strike-breaker by forcing the APNGOs to call off the strike and Chandrababu Naidu has been silent allowing his members to speak according to their regional moorings while YSRCP leaders have given individual affidavits to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking a united state.

The difference between YSRCP and other parties is as clear as chalk and cheese and even if TDP tries to level baseless allegations using its friendly media people are aware of their double standards and our sincerity, he said.