Reject plea for T, leaders tell Sonia

Division will spark unrest in Seemandhra

Seemandhra Congress leaders on Friday sent their memorandum to Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi and other members of the Congress Core Committee, requesting them to keep the state united, and to reject the demand for the creation of a Telangana state.

In the four-page memorandum prepared by former minister Gade Venkata Reddy and others, Seemandhra Congress leaders said that the creation of a Telangana state against the wishes of the people will lead to complications.

The leaders said that in sharing irrigation water, supplying coal to thermal power stations, and employment, the Seemandhra region, particularly Rayalaseema, would suffer badly and

The formation of states were settled five decades ago, the leaders said, opposing the demand for a Telangana state

that will lead to unrest among the public.

They also stated in their memorandum that the merger of the Andhra state with the Telangana region to form Andhra Pradesh in 1956 based on the linguistic principle cannot be compromised. They said that prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi vehimently opposed the creation of a Telangana state and had supported a united Andhra Pradesh. Both of them acknowledged that a united Andhra Pradesh state alone can address the genuine concerns of people of the state. They said that the issue of forming states and issues concerning all regions were settled five decades ago, and there was no need to create a Telangana state now or to rake up settled issues.

The Congress leaders said that if there was a partition, Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema would be the worst affected, and this will lead to unrest. They said that some packages suggested by the Justice Srikrishna committee in its report could be implemented to protect the interests of the Telangana region.

The Congress leaders also warned in their memorandum that a division of the state would create serious law and order problems.