Lack of political management made Telangana controversial: BJP
Arun Jaitley says it's not late to factor in interests of both regions.
New Delhi: Favouring the early creation of Telangana, BJP today said the lack of political management in creation of the new state has made the cause controversial. The opposition party hoped that the interests of two regions of Telangana and Seemandhra would be taken care of by the government and hoped Telangana sees the light of the day soon.
"A well intentioned cause for the creation of Telangana which fulfills the aspirations of the people has been made controversial on account of the lack of political management," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said.
He said though it is still not too late, the interests of both the regions should be factored in and justice should be done with regard to the issues of power, irrigation and eventual creation of new capital for Seemandhra. "A good cause which is badly handled can hurt the cause. I do hope that the needful is done and Telangana sees the light of the day," he said.
Lashing out at the Congress for mishandling the issue, Jaitley said, "Both the regions of Telangana and Seemandhra suspect the intention of the Congress Party...The manner in which the Congress has gone about on this issue displays a complete lack of statecraft." He alleged that adequate home work has not been done and deft political handling required to identify the issues and balance the creation of the new state with a possible sense of injustice that people in Seemandhra may feel has not been done.
"Alternatively, both regions are in a state of turmoil. The ruling party itself is on the verge of split. The State Legislature has reacted adversely to the Centre's proposal. Consensus required to be done even within the Congress Party has not been done," he said.
Jaitley cited the example of smooth creation of states of Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh during the NDA regime when a consensus was evolved after taking care of the interests of all the regions and sections. He said, "The proposal for creation of a separate state of Telangana will now come up before Parliament and BJP has consistently supported the proposal to create a state of Telangana, but at the same time, we believe that justice should be done to the region of Seemandhra."