Rosaiah crying for peace

Playing the role of the elderly statesman to the hilt, former chief minister K Rosaiah on Thursday appealed to all leaders from across the state to observe restraint, a day after the war of words between political leaders from Telangana and Seemandhra regions turned ugly.

Mr Rosaiah told media persons at the Congress Legislature Party office that the war of words will further vitiate the atmosphere in the state and ultimately hurt the people.“All leaders must observe restraint and patience over the controversial separate statehood issue until the Centre takes a final decision,” the former chief minister said

Mr Rosaiah advised the leaders to stop making provocative statements, thereby hurting the sentiments of the people. He, however refused to further comment on the statements, saying, “I do not want to make any comment on the provocative statements of the leaders as it would lead to further controversies.”

When asked to whether he would participate in the agitations launched for and against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Rosaiah said, “I am not in a position to participate in any agitations. My age will not permit me to do so.”

Stating the Centre is committed to solve the Telangana problem and is making efforts in that direction, the former chief minister said the provocative statements of the leaders would create further problems and precipitate the matters.“Not only this, the provocative statements will precipitate matters and delay the issue further,” he stated.

Mr Rosaiah also appealed to all leaders to present their views to the High Command and help it in solving the Telangana tangle. Responding on Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s statement that the December 9, 2009 statement by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was made in haste and due to lack of communication over deteriorating health condition of Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao, Mr Rosaiah said that the state government provided all information sought by the Centre at that time.

He pointed out that Mr Mukherjee has not found any fault in the information provided by the state government. Expressing grief over the suicide of Yadireddy from Rangareddy district, the former chief minister appealed to students not to resort to extreme steps and complicate the situation.