New SRC for UP, not for Telangana: Ponnam

Telangana Congress MPs Forum convener Ponnam Prabhakar on Monday stated that the hints emerging from the Centre that it would establish a States Reorganisation Commission were directed towards the demand of splitting Uttar Pradesh and were not connected to the Telangana statehood demand.

Talking to media persons at Assembly Media Point, Mr Prabhakar rubbished the reports which appeared in a section of the press that the Centre was contemplating to refer the contentious issue of separate statehood for Telangana to a States Reorganisation Commission.

“There is no truth in the reports linking the SRC with Telangana. Only those people who are opposed to a separate Telangana are linking the SRC with the region,” the Karimnagar MP stated.

“The indications emerging from the Centre that a SRC would be constituted are limited to the demands of trifurcation of Uttar Pradesh. It has got nothing to do with Telangana,” the MP continued.

Mr Prabhakar further predicted that the Congress cannot risk the wrath of the people by including the vexed issued of Telangana in the SRC. “The party will lose its base if it does so and we will have to face the wrath of the people of the region. Obviously the Congress leaders cannot risk being termed as treacherous in the pages of history,” he continued.

Mr Prabhakar further said, “We will oppose, totally oppose, if the Centre attempts to include Telangana in the SRC.”

He said that United Progressive Alliance Chairman Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have been already informed over the situation in Telangana before the second anniversary of UPA-II government began.