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Hyderabad: Worried at the growing bonhomie between the TDP and BJP and fearing that the new government at the Centre may try to impose restrictions on the status of Hyderabad, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao has reportedly asked TJAC to prepare for another struggle, albeit a different kind.
Sources close to KCR say the TRS chief has “credible information” about TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu trying to prevail upon New Delhi to make Hyderabad either a permanent common capital for Seemandhra and Telangana, or give it a Union Territory status, neither of which is acceptable to the pink party.
The TDP’s victory in Seemandhra and BJP getting a thumping majority at the Centre have upset KCR’s calculations as he was expecting a YSR Congress Party government in residuary Andhra Pradesh, in which case he had planned to work in tandem with the YSRCP, experts said.
TDP keeping its stocks even in Telangana has only queered the pitch further for KCR, who has asked his trusted Telangana vanguard, the Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (TJAC), to meet on Monday and prepare for some post-bifurcation drama. “The TDP-BJP combine is a cause of concern as there are many loopholes in the AP State Reorganization Act, which they might try to tinker with. We are ready to fight it out in the eventuality of any restrictions imposed on the status of Hyderabad,” said M Kodandaram, TJAC chairman.
Senior TRS leaders said they are wary of the TDP influence in Telangana as Naidu’s flock has a strong hold on Hyderabad after winning 9 Assembly seats of the 24 in Greater Hyderabad. “We definitely are concerned about the fact that a party like TDP is in alliance with the BJP at the Centre. Even people of Telangana are apprehensive that the Centre might behave in partisan manner. But, we hope the Modi government would be magnanimous,” said K Kavitha, KCR’s daughter and MP from Nizamabad. She also called upon Telangana TDP MPs to ensure their party does not make such a move.
But constitution experts point out that loopholes in the AP State Reorganization Act 2014 might get the Centre to seek fresh amendments and make Hyderabad a Union Territory. According to K V Dhananjaya, a senior Supreme Court counsel, there is no provision under the Constitution to extend the status of common capital to Hyderabad without making it a Union Territory (UT). “If it is proposed that Hyderabad should act as a common capital to the newly carved out states, it should be designated as a Union Territory,” Dhananjaya said.
The Telangana BJP unit too is alert. “The TDP might try to do its bit and be a spoilsport in Telangana. But we are sure that Modi will not be get carried away,” said G Kishan Reddy, Telangana BJP president.
Source: TimesOfIndia
