The Lok Satta Party on regretted that a section of the media has misquoted its president Jayaprakash Narayan’s remarks in response to a question at a media conference in Visakhapatnam on July 7.
Setting the record straight, the party quoted Dr Narayan saying that “Formation of a State is a matter of democratic, political arrangement in a federal polity, and not a matter of life and death. The Lok Satta Party has consistently maintained that formation of a Telangana State will be neither a catastrophe nor a panacea to people’s problems. Therefore, all sections of people must maintain calm and resolve the issue peacefully and amicably through dialogue.
“When passions are roused on both sides, responsible leaders should be restrained, and display a willingness to negotiate and arrive at a satisfactory solution. People in Andhra Pradesh and Telugu-speaking people in the country and all over the world have already paid a heavy price because of the delay in resolving the problem. The Government of India and major political parties are guilty of criminal negligence and reckless abandon in dealing with a sensitive issue affecting the lives of millions of people.
“The Government of India is constitutionally obliged to resolve the issue quickly and amicably keeping in mind national interests as also those of people in all the regions of the State.”