JOIN USTelugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday slammed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for its decision on bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, saying “it is an emotional issue that needs sensitive handling and requires equal justice to be meted out to people of Telangana and Seemandhra”.
The TDP leader was in Mumbai to meet Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to discuss the need for regional parties to come together against “people in Delhi taking decisions unilaterally and then imposing it on the people”.
Talking to reporters here after the meeting at Thackeray’s residence “Matoshree”, Naidu, emphasising on the federal nature of the Constitution, said: “Our forefathers have written the Constitution. India is a mature democracy, the biggest democracy. The Centre has to take states into confidence. It is doing all these things in violation of the Constitution and this is not correct.
“One of the reasons I came here and met Uddhav Thackeray was because like the Shiv Sena, the TDP also espoused son of the soil. It was started to protect interests and self-respect of the Telugu people. If they want Telangana, they have to persuade people from Seemandhra and if they want to maintain status quo or keep the state united, they have to convince the people from Telangana.”
He also alleged that there was some kind of a covert understanding between the Congress, YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.
Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray also reiterated Naidu's stand. “The Shiv Sena also holds a similar view. We have always opposed the Congress policy of divide and rule and this is what they have done,” he said.