Swaraj demands deadline on Telangana state decision

Hyderabad : Sushma Swaraj, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and senior BJP leader, yesterday demanded that the UPA government give a deadline for a decision on demands for a separate Telangana state.

Holding the central government and the Congress party responsible for the uncertain and tense situation in the state, she said the only solution to the problem was the formation of Telangana state.

"Let them form Telangana state so the two states could start functioning normally," she said.

Swaraj, who was addressing a students' rally organised by the Akhila Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad in support of calls for a Telangana state, said that the centre had adopted a "flip-flop" attitude on the issue.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, she asked: "How long [does] it take to create a political consensus? Since the merger in 1953, this demand is there. [The] demand was also raised against the merger [that] it was a merger of two unequal states. Please give us a deadline for political consensus. It is dilly-dallying, not solving the problems."

Swaraj ridiculed the frequent policy changes of the central government on the issue.

"Earlier the central government used to take a decision after detailed discussions and announce it later. Now for the first time we are seeing a central government which announces the decision first and when it is criticised, they say ‘we will discuss and consider it'," she said.

Confused centre

Pointing to the split and confusion in the Congress over Telangana, she asked: "When the Congress party is not able to keep its own flock together, how can it convince the people of Andhra and Telangana regions?"

Swaraj recalled that in the recent session of Parliament, Congress members from Andhra and Telangana were coming in to parliament shouting the slogans ‘Jai Andhra' and ‘Jai Telangana'.