Congress not to support BJP's bill on Telangana

The Congress has ruled out its support to any private bill on Telangana state which the Bharatiya Janata Party proposed to move in the current session of the Parliament.

All India Congress Committee General Secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs Digvijay Singh, who is the state to campaign for the party in the Lok Sabha by-election in Karimnagar slated for December 4, said, "Ordinarily, the government does not support any private bill of any party."

Speaking to newsmen in Hyderabad on Thursday, Singh recalled, "The Congress has never supported anything which BJP has brought in." He lambasted the BJP for its 'double-speak and inconsistency' on the Telangana statehood issue.

"The same BJP created Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chattisgarh. Why did they not think of Telangana then? That was the time when they had their partnership with the Telugu Desam Party (which is opposed to separate Telangana).

"When Congress president wrote about Telangana and sought Second States' Reorganisation Commission, L K Advani rejected the demand for Telangana and SRC categorically. BJP has a habit of double speak.

"It says one thing to one section and the other thing to the other section. So it is neither dependable, nor credible," he said.

He was reacting to the statement of State BJP President Bandaru Dattatreya who said on Wednesday that "if the Congress does not move a bill for the formation of Telangana state in Parliament, the party will move a private bill in the next two or three days."

Singh also rejected the claim of TRS President and former union minister K Chandrasekhar Rao that the Karimnagar by-election would be a referendum on the issue of Telangana. "One by-election to a Parliament seat cannot be taken as a referendum on such a large issue," he said.

He asserted that the Congress was quite sure of winning the by-elections on the basis of the performance of its government in the state and the UPA government at the centre.

He faulted Chandrasekhar Rao for severing his relations with the Congress and the UPA. Despite repeated efforts to convince him to remain with the UPA, the TRS chief chose to go away and resign from the government and the Parliament, thereby forcing the by-election where he was a candidate again.

Singh said that the stand of Congress on Telangana was consistent and "...the party cannot take any decision on its own until and unless the issue is discussed with the alliance partners." He said that the CPI, CPI-M and Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen were allies of the Congress since the 2004 elections and "they have still not reached a consensus on the issue of Telangana."

He said that the Congress had gone to the people of Karimnagar to prove that the present government led by Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy was sensitive to the cause and development of Telangana, including implementation of groups of ministers, on the job protection for locals and the utilisation of river waters in this backward region.