Having realized that the bifurcation process has reached a point of no return,all Seemandhra ministers are said to have decided to demand a comprehensive financial package instead of insisting on status quo.On Tuesday evening,Union ministers Kavuri Sambasiva Rao,Pallam Raju,Panabaka Lakshmi,D Purandeswari and JD Seelam met at the residence of Kavuri in Delhi to finalize their own deal.
According to sources,they are trying to place the new deal before party president Sonia Gandhi,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,party vice president Rahul Gandhi,and party general secretary incharge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh.However,after an hour-long meeting,the ministers refused to reveal the contents of the deal to the media. Sources,however,said,the new deal seeks a comprehensive economic package for the Seemandhra region along with many other compensatory proposals such as central institutes,PSUs etc.It would be futile to keep demanding status quo.The Centre has put the bifurcation process on a fast track.The best we can now do is to extract as many benefits for the region from the Centre as possible, the sources told TOI.
The ministers are of the opinion that they could win the hearts of Seemandhra people with the new deal.We have sought appointment with all high command leaders.We are waiting for their response, minister Panabaka Laskhmi told the media after the meeting.Refusing to divulge the details,Lakshmi said We want to meet Sonia,Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi as we could not meet them in the recent past, she added. Seelam is said to have prepared the package and persuaded other colleagues to agree for the deal.At the Tuesdays meeting,other ministers also were said to have endorsed the contents of his proposal which listed more than fifty demands as compensation for agreeing to toe the party line.
These demands include Rs 20,000 crore per year a new capital till the city is fully developed.Seelams package took care of the interests of all 13 districts in Rayalaseema and coastal district decentralization of development as the guiding principle,the sources said. Meanwhile,having failed to cobble up a single report from the multitude of voices being raised by MPs, MLAs, MLCs, ministers, the Congress has allowed every leader to send his report to the GoM.Now,its clear that a single report is unlikely from the party, the sources said. The Congress is one of the eight parties called upon by the Union ministry to send its views on the terms of reference of the GoM by November 5.
Speaking to the media in Hyderabad on Tuesday evening,PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana said he had dispatched the two separate reports given by the Seemandhra and Telangana ministers to the GoM.Meanwhile,information minister DK Aruna sent her own 16-page report to the GoM on Tuesday which focused on water share of her home district Mahbubnagar.According to Aruna,instead of allocated 110 TMC,Mahbubnagar is getting only 28 TMC and urged the GoM to correct the injustice.
Interestingly,the report of the Seemandhra union ministers also demanded permanent union territory status for Hyderabad.Similarly,16 Telangana MLCs,both past and present,sent their own report to the GoM opposing any dual control on Hyderabad by the Centre and state.
(SOURCE-TOI)
