‘You first’, parties tell each other on Telangana stand

The three major political parties _ Congress, TDP and YSRCP _ which operate in all the three regions of the state have not yet reacted loudly to the Centre’s decision to hold an all-party meeting, much less spelt out their respective stand on the Telangana issue.

In fact, the three parties do not want to take a clear-cut stance on the issue of state bifurcation, fearing a backlash in the other regions. Hence their dodging the issue and asking their rivals to spell out their stand first. 

PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana made it clear on Friday that the onus of expressing their opinions on the issue of bifurcation squarely lay with the opposition parties and not with the Congress. 

“The Congress is running the governments at the Centre and in the state. That means our party’s role is like the head of a family who   always takes the opinions of the family members before taking a  final decision. Similarly, at the all-party meeting, the opposition parties will have to clarify their standpoint first. Then only will the Congress express its opinion,” he said.

In support of his contention he recalled that during the maiden all-party meeting held by the then chief minister K Rosaiah in Hyderabad on December 7, 2009, Rosaiah did not express the viewpoint of the Congress but only gathered the opinions of other parties and conveyed the same to the Centre.

Basing on those opinions the Centre made the announcement on December 9, 2009. Similarly, at the proposed all-party meeting in Delhi, the Congress would elicit the opinions of other parties first, Satyanarayana said.

When reporters repeatedly asked Botcha whether the Congress is going to disclose its viewpoint on the T-issue during the all-party meet, the PCC chief flashed a smile and said, “Why should the Congress spell out its stance on the T-issue first? It is the party which has to take a final decision on the issue as it is in the power and accord statehood to the T-region. So, first of all the Opposition will have to announce its stand. Then, the Congress will spell out its stance and take a final decision.”

AICC general secretary in charge of APCC affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad also dampened the enthusiasm of Telangana votaries on Thursday when he said in Hyderabad that Sushil Kumar Shinde, being the new home minister,  proposed the all-party meeting to get an understanding of the issue.

So the proposed meeting was nothing but an exercise to gather the opinions of various parties afresh, the PCC chief said.

TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu too has said that the Congress has to spell out its stand first. Naidu, who had written a letter to the Centre demanding that an all-party meeting be held  on the issue, now says that the Congress is planning to hold the meeting just to buy time. He has also alleged that the Congress is hatching a conspiracy to damage the TDP politically.

The YSR Congress has also asked the Congress to spell out its stance first over the issue.

With the Congress, TDP and YSRC asking each other to spell out their stand first, political analysts predict that the third all-party meeting will also end up as a farce as did the first two.