HYDERABAD, 19 July 2005 — Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) boss and federal Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar yesterday came out in support of Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s demand for a separate Telangana state.
Pawar, who was in Hyderabad on his way to Warangal to attend a public meeting, told reporters that “our party supports the separate Telangana demand. Our party working committee took a decision in this regard two years ago.”
“The United Progressive Alliance’s common minimum program and the presidential address to Parliament announced support for Telangana,” he pointed out.
Pawar said his party had written a letter explaining his party’s stand to a UPA subcommittee headed by Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee that is looking into the Telangana issue. “Our party has communicated our support for Telangana. It is our desire that whatever commitment has been given (for a separate Telangana) must be fulfilled,” he added.
Asked about the UPA’s promise to evolve a consensus on the issue and the strong opposition from the left parties to a separate Telangana state, the NPA chief said: “In a democracy, we have to convince them. We are confident that we will be able to collectively convince them.”
TRS President and federal Labor Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao hosted a lunch for Pawar before the two left for Warangal.
Rao claims the support of 30 out of 38 parties represented in Parliament for a separate Telangana state. They include 13 constituents of the UPA. Several NDA constituents as well as such parties as the Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Janata Dal (S) are also supporting the Telangana demand.
The public meeting at Warangal is being organized as a show of strength by TRS following the pullout of its six ministers from the Congress party-led government in the state to protest the “anti-Telangana” stance and actions of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.
At the rally, TRS is likely to explain to the public the reasons for the ministers’ resignations and use the occasion to launch a tirade against the chief minister and his policies. The party is expected to announce its plan of action for expediting the movement for the creation of a separate state.
Chandrasekhar Rao and Rajasekhar Reddy are scheduled to meet in Delhi on July 20 to sort out the grievances of TRS. The Rao-Reddy meeting is being arranged by the Congress leadership.
