Jagan puts ball in Centre's court, says respects T sentiment

If the first day of the Ysr Congress Party’s maiden plenary session gave glimpses of that the party’s president YS Jaganmohan Reddy emergence as a good public speaker able to hold his audience’s attention, the second day saw him emerge as a wily politician, able to dodge the pressure built on him by the party’s leaders from Telangana, by smartly putting the separate statehood ball in the Centre’s court.

Addressing the delegation at concluding session of the party’s plenary at Idupulapaya in Kadapa district, Mr Jaganmohan Reddy opted to take the middle path on the contentious separate statehood demand, saying that he had neither the power nor was in a position to make a commitment on the issue.

However, he was shrewd enough to keep his party’s leaders from Telangana interested by saying that “our party respects the Telangana sentiment.”

“As the leader of a responsible political party, I appeal to the Central government to find a solution to the issue. It is the Centre which has the power to bifurcate the state or keep it integrated under Article 3 of the Constitution. Whatever decision the Centre takes, it should be careful that no one ends up being hurt. This is what the Ysr Congress Party wants,” Mr Jaganmohan Reddy said.

He added, referring to the famous December 9, 2009 statement by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, “even if taking a decision is not easy, once a promise has been made, it should be kept.”

The Ysr Congress Party chief revealed that he was advised by many senior leaders to form a ‘committee’ on the separate statehood issue and keep a decision in abeyance. “This ‘committee’s’ term should be kept on being extended till the time the Centre announces a decision,” Mr Jaganmohan Reddy said.

However, he added that he rejected such advice since he did not want to adopt a ‘forked tongue’ on the issue. “We are clear that it (separate Telangana demand) is not our responsibility. We do not play games with the sentiments of the people like the TDP, which took a ‘U turn’ on December 10, a day after the Centre made its crucial announcement,” the Kadapa MP said.

He also said that his ‘elder sister’ Konda Surekha not only resigned as a Minister from the state Cabinet to support him, but also resigned from her elected post to support the separate Telangana statehood agitation.

Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s words will give the party’s leaders from Telangana elbow room to go before the people of the region and point out that he has not dismissed the Telangana demand altogether, even as his party leaders from Seemandhra region can say the same regarding the integrated Andhra Pradesh stand.

Right from the time when the party’s plenary was announced, all eyes were on the Ysr Congress Party president, with leaders of all political parties keenly awaiting his stand on the contentious statehood demand. His silence had earlier managed to hold the separate statehood protagonists from launching the sort of attacks which they had launched against the Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu. Now, when he has spoken, his words are more or less expected to keep his detractors away.

Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s statement came on a day when slogans in favour of separate Telangana and integrated Andhra Pradesh reverberated in Idupulapaya.

Pro-Telangana and pro-Samaikhya Andhra leaders tried to outshout each other to try and get a clear stand by Mr Jaganmohan Reddy.