AP minister seeks Prez intervention on Telangana

An Andhra Pradesh minister has sought the intervention of President Pranab Mukherjee to uphold the Constitution by ensuring that “the sense of state legislature is factored into the Centre’s decision-making process on carving out Telangana.”

Primary Education Minister S Sailajanath, who is also the convenor of the United AP MLAs and MLCs forum, wrote to President Mukherjee on October 17, requesting him to ensure that a resolution and bill on the creation of Telangana be referred to the Assembly for its views and due respect be given to the Legislature’s opinion.

“We are very much upset with the way of decisions taken by the Government of India. It is our strong belief that the government is not taking leaders from the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions into confidence,” he said.

In his two-page letter, Sailajanath quoted Article 3 of the Constitution to state that no bill which “affects the area, boundaries or name of any of the states” can be introduced in Parliament before the President refers it to the Assembly.

“We are expecting that the resolution on division of the state and the bill will be referred to the state Legislature for views, as required by constitutional provisions. This is being allayed by the rumours prevailing that the government is thinking to bypass the Assembly resolution. If it happens, the same will be undemocratic and unconstitutional and against the true spirit of our great federal Constitution,” the letter stated.

He said Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand were created following Assembly resolutions in the mother states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh respectively.

He also recalled that Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in his famous statement on December 9, 2009, said the process of formation of Telangana will be initiated and an appropriate resolution will be moved in the Assembly.