Political parties in Andhra Pradesh must help the Centre find a solution to the Telangana issue but they are divided and a solution cannot be thrust down their throats, according to Home Minister P Chidambaram.
"This is a unique situation where political parties in Andhra Pradesh are divided down the middle. Congress, Telugu Desam, Communist Party of India Marxist, Communist Party of India, they are all divided. The only party which claims to be undivided is the Bharatiya Janata Party because it has only one member," he said.
Therefore, he said, the political parties were divided and "we cannot thrust any solution down the throats of political parties who represent the people".
Chidambaram said so far as the Congress party was concerned, the effort was to unite the party and find a solution that was acceptable to all Congress legislators.
"The other parties must all do the same thing. For example, the Telugu Desam must try to do the same thing. Unite all Telugu Desam members to find an agreed solution. It is easy to say you have not found a solution but anyone who tells us we have not found a solution has no solution either," he said.
Asked about some critics accusing him of "going back" on the promise of Telangana, the minister explained, "The government took a position and as home minister, I made the statement on behalf of the government on December 9, 2009. When protests broke out in other parts of Andhra Pradesh, the government reconsidered the matter and revised its position and I made the second statement on December 23, 2009".
"I was speaking on behalf of the government. So if it is anyone's case that the home minister can unilaterally announce or withdraw an announcement, one must be very naïve to think so," he said.
