Aam Aadmi Party indicates support to Telangana

Hyderabad: Indicating that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in favour of separate Telangana state, its senior leader Prashant Bhushan said on Saturday that the outfit supported smaller states as it believes in decentralisation of power.

Bhushan also said the AAP was averse to having any pre-poll alliance with any political party. He, however, said like-minded parties like Lok Satta in Andhra Pradesh, led by former bureaucrat Jayprakash Narayan, was welcome to AAP fold.

"So far we have decided not to enter into pre-poll alliance. However, they (Lok Satta) may merge with AAP. There have been discussions (towards merger) in this regard. It is too early to say anything at this point," Bhushan told reporters.

Lok Satta Party national president Jayprakash Narayan, the lone legislator of the party in the AP Assembly, and his team from Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi held discussions with AAP president Arvind Kejriwal and other leaders at Delhi recently fuelling speculations that both the parties may forge alliance in the ensuing general and Assembly elections.

Earlier in the day, Bhushan inaugurated AAP's Andhra Pradesh campaign committee office and addressed a meeting of party members.

"We support decentralisation of power and therefore we support smaller states. The matter does not get solved only with the formation of Telangana. We need further decentralisation right till village level," he said.

"I want to assure the people of Andhra region that AAP would work hard for rights of people of all regions," he said when asked about the party's stand on Seemandhra (a term used to refer regions comprising Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra).

Bhushan took a dig at Congress and BJP saying both the parties have common ideologies in terms of corruption and communalism and hence AAP would maintain equal distance from them.

"Not only Congress and BJP, even the regional parties are for centralisation of power," Bhushan said replying to a query on the possibility of AAP joining in an elusive Third Front. On Delhi Police' purported non-cooperation with its ministers in cracking down on crime, Bhushan said, "Delhi police is a corrupt organisation".

"Being a citizen of this country Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has the right to hold a 'dharna' in front of the Home Minister's office," Bhushan said.

He was replying to a query on the Chief Minister and other senior AAP leaders' plan to stage the sit-in in front of Sushilkumar Shinde's office in Delhi from Monday, seeking punitive action against policemen allegedly involved in tiffs with two ministers of Delhi government.

Bhushan, a senior supreme court advocate, claimed AAP has enrolled over one lakh members in Andhra Pradesh and expected the numbers to grow further.

He said the party was in the process of setting up an election committee in Andhra Pradesh to contest upcoming polls.

Meanwhile, some right wing activists raised slogans against Bhushan over his recent remarks on Kashmir, however, they were taken into custody by police.

Bhushan's statements on Telangana also invited the ire of pro-united Andhra Pradesh supporters present at the press conference.

The pro-united AP activists raised slogans against him but were pacified by their colleagues.