Congress should not give in to pressure

The Congress party will not give in to pressure from “separatists,” said Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, referring to the deadline set by the Joint Action Committee for Telangana here on Wednesday.

Addressing the media for the first time here after “escaping” from the Government General Hospital, Mr. Rajagopal said that the Congress should not give in to pressure on such issues.

He said people wanting a separate flag for their region was an extremist trend. “There should be only one national flag. Asking for a separate flag for each State would ultimately lead to disintegration of the country. Asking for a separate flag for a State that is yet to be formed is also an extremist trend,” he said.

It was for this very same reason that he opposed the move by some activists of the unified Andhra Pradesh to unfurl a separate flag in Visakhapatnam, Mr. Rajagopal said.

The Congress was the only political party that did not change its stand on separate Telangana. Though leaders had been voicing different demands, the party was of the opinion that the dispute could be resolved only through discussions.

The Central Government was repeatedly stating that fruitful discussions were possible only if there was peace and harmony in the State.

Mr. Rajagopal said since pro-bifurcationists were saying that it had become an issue of “self respect” for them, the best place for holding discussions was the State itself. There was a danger of people of the State becoming a laughing stock of the country if they fought over issues of self respect in New Delhi.

Maintaining that many people in the State were not clear why the State should not be divided, he said the first point that should be discussed was how many regions the State should be divided into.

What should be the parameters for division? Should another States Reorganisation Commission be formed so that the country could be divided into States that were uniform in population?

There was also the question of State revenues, as out of the total Rs. 75,000 crores of Andhra Pradesh, nearly Rs. 35,000 crores was from Hyderabad alone.

The districts de-linked from Hyderabad would have to forget about development and welfare, Mr. Rajagopal said.

Finally, there was the question of sharing the waters of the Krishna and the Godavari.

“The more the States the more the fighting,” Mr. Rajagopal cautioned, adding these issues needed to be discussed threadbare.