Telangana: MLAs storm out of districts meet

Hyderabad: City legislators strongly opposed the division of Hyderabad district, while those from Ranga Reddy district made it clear that they will not be accepting the merger of mandals from their district into Hyderabad. The meeting convened by the Cabinet sub-committee on new districts to seek the opinion of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy district MLAs ended in a stalemate over the issue.

Ranga Reddy MLAs left the meeting midway, objecting to officials holding a joint meeting with their Hyderabad counterparts, while the government was holding separate meetings for each district. Uppal BJP legislator N.V.S.S. Prabhakar, which is in Ranga Reddy district, first demanded a separate meeting for the district, which was backed by others. With the MLAs walking out, the committee was forced to  conduct a separate meeting for them later.

While Hyderabad MLAs, cutting across party lines barring the MIM, opposed the division of Hyderabad district, the MIM sought creation of new districts from Hyderabad. Amberpet BJP legislator G. Kishan Reddy demanded that the government merge all 150 divisions of the GHMC into Hyderabad district and make it bigger instead of making it smaller by making new districts out of Hyderabad.

“All other Metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai are bigger and Hyderabad should not be made smaller. This will severely affect the city’s brand image,” he said. The MLAs protested over the committee not coming out with any proposal on creation of new districts from Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy. “If they come out with any proposal we can express our views,” said Mr R. Krishnaiah, TD.