AP division has left deep scars, says guv

Narasimhan says people's aspirations have not been fulfilled even after bifurcation

Echoing the sentiment of the people of Andhra Pradesh (AP), Governor E S L Narasimhan in his maiden address to the joint session of the Legislature said the manner in which the state was divided has left behind a “deep sense of disappointment” and wounds that will take a long time to heal.

Hinting at the need for a re-look into the provisions made under the AP Reorganisation Act, the governor said that the popular sentiments, aspirations and expectations of a large section of people in the state remained unfulfilled even after the bifurcation.

“Discords and inconsistencies relating to distribution of assets and liabilities, allocation of power generating units, procedure adopted for distribution of personnel and demarcation of boundaries warrant a re-look to fulfill the aspirations of the people,” he said.

“The decision to bifurcate the united state of Andhra Pradesh and the manner in which it was done has left behind a deep sense of disappointment and trail of bitter memories,” the governor added. Narasimhan called for an equitable apportionment of debt, power sharing, education and just distribution of staff between Telangana and AP.

Recalling the unending story of movement of Telugu people from one province to the other, Narasimhan described that the recent division has left yet another deep scar.

“The Telugu people had to shift out of Madras to Kurnool for self identity and then to Hyderabad on linguistic basis. Now the people of the present state of Andhra Pradesh are without a capital. The instability of the political geography has repeatedly pushed the Telugu people away from the path of development and progress,” the governor said.

Unfolding the crisis before the members of the Assembly and the Council, Narasimhan said that the division is yet to address the issue of new capital for the residual state.
“The process of bifurcation, coupled with frittering away of resources and mal-governance have deeply impacted the state and its finances which are in disarray.

The division made the residual AP a revenue deficit state on non-plan account by more than Rs 15,000 crore.”

“My government, among other financial proposals, will request the Centre to provide Rs 15,000 crore in the ensuing Union Budget to bridge the non-plan deficit,” the governor said. Narasimhan wanted the Union government to speed up the process of according Special Category State status to AP.

Meanwhile, the main Opposition YSR Congress criticised the governor’s address and termed it as a condolence motion. Party MLAs Roja, G Srikanth Reddy, K Sridhar Reddy and Jyothula Nehru said that the governor’s speech failed to inspire the people of AP who are already in pain.