No need to pass Telangana resolution in Assembly: Advani

PTI
Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani has said that there is no need to pass a resolution in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly to form a new State of Telangana since it is neither mandatory nor obligatory under the Constitution.

“Under Article 3 of the Constitution forming a new State is the total responsibility of the Parliament. As the Union Home Minister in the NDA government, I had initiated the process of forming three new States after unanimously passing the Bill in the Parliament”, he said at a crowded press conference here on Wednesday.

“In respect of two of these States, I had to ask for passage of resolutions in their respective Assemblies as their Chief Ministers opposed division of their states and the NDA constituents were not in power there. Therefore, I asked them to consult the entire political set up in their states”, he added.

Emphatically supporting his party's stand in favour of smaller states, Mr. Advani said that if the Congress-led UPA government tabled a Bill for formation of Telangana State, the BJP would extend its full support. He went on to say that the demand for Telangana was genuine and it would be realised by January 1, 2012, if the Bill was introduced in the winter session of Parliament.

Appealing to the youth and students not to commit suicide, the senior BJP leader, who was on his second day of Jan Chetna Yatra in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, said he had never seen such a situation where so many youth sacrificed their lives for the realisation of their demand.

Coming down heavily on the UPA-II government, Mr. Advani said that in the last two years it was paralaysed by total indecisiveness and had became dysfunctional. Changing the stand within 15 days after making announcement (on Telangana) in both Houses of Parliament has never happened in the 60 years of Independent history, he said.

Asked whether the BJP understood the feelings of people of other regions of Andhra Pradesh for remaining united, he said that formation of smaller states was a necessity from the standpoint of administrative convenience. “Viability is size and Telangana has that. I was born in Sindh and then it was part of Bombay Presidency. How far is it correct if anyone says that it should not have been divided from Bombay Presidency”, he asked.

BJP leaders M. Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar, Ravi Sankar Prasad, Ch. Vidya Sagar Rao and the party's State president G. Kishan Reddy were present.