KCR silent on merger with Congress - ANDHRA PRADESH

In a significant departure from his stated stand that he would not have objection to merging the Telangana Rashtra Samiti with the Congress if the latter conceded separate Telangana, TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday refused to respond on the issue until a Bill on creation of the new State was passed by Parliament.

Mr. Rao based his refusal on the danger whether the Bill would be taken up by Parliament at all in view of past experience when the legislations on women’s reservation and quota for SCs and STs in promotions fell through after being considered by the Upper House.

Replying to a question at the ‘meet the press’ programme organised by the Telangana Journalists Forum here, the TRS president said the Congress would definitely try to take credit from the announcement on Telangana but credit in this sense is not something that can be taken from a shop. People would decide whom to give credit. He said he was misinterpreted recently as giving a call for employees from Andhra working in Telangana to go back, whereas what he actually meant was that Andhra and Telangana employees would have no option but to work in their respective regions after the bifurcation. The jobs would have to be shared by domicile.

CALL TO ‘T’ STAFF

He said the employees will have to work hard and 24 hours in a day would not be sufficient from Chief Minister down to government staff when the bifurcation took place.

“What is the use of separate Telangana if the government gave employees option to work? It is better to remain in an integrated State”.

Mr. Rao reminded the employees from other regions that they need not leave immediately as they would have a ten-year gestation period until the two States became functional separately. The ageing staff could retire happily in Hyderabad, buy a flat and spend rest of their life without ever going back to their native places.

In this context, he said he welcomed the Centre’s proposal to make Hyderabad a common capital for ten years but Telangana State will have to be administered by the Telangana government from the city during the period.

He considered the “Andhras go back” slogan in the wake of the 1969 agitation a “third class” slogan and therefore never raised it again.

‘No question of my becoming CM’

What role will TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao play when Telangana State is formed? Definitely not a Chief Minister’s because, he said, he did not lead the separate Telangana movement eyeing that seat. “No question of my becoming a Chief Minister.”

If TRS is in power in the new State, Mr. Rao said he will stick to his promise to make a Dalit the Chief Minister more than the present expenditure. Power sector will be given a boost with the establishment of 10 generating stations of 1,000 MW each. An industrial corridor will be set up from Sirpur Kagaznagar to Manuguru on the lines of ‘Chicago to Manchester’ model.

Mr. Rao said he wanted talks with Maoists to set the agenda for development of the region. But, they must give up arms because it was not acceptable to civil society. He expected the talks to be fruitful because the socio-economic agenda of Maoists and TRS was much the same.

If he decided to merge TRS with Congress, he said he will enforce his dream for the region on the Congress leadership. “Now that I have come to be known for spearheading a movement, I will launch another stir for reconstruction of Telangana if my dream is not implemented,” he added.

What is his dream for Telangana?. Mr. Rao said the biggest is to give compulsory and free education from KG to PG which will cost Rs. 4,500 crore to Rs. 5,000 crore

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/kcr-silent-on-merger-with-congress/article4989197.ece