New Delhi: The Opposition today came down heavily on the Government in Rajya Sabha for its decision to create Telangana, accusing it of trying to score political points by taking a hurried decision after sitting on the sensitive issue for four years.
The House saw an impromptu debate on the issue with TDP MP Y S Chowdary accusing Congress of resorting to "autocratic" approach in announcing creation of Telangana and taking the decision in "haste".
Seeking clarifications on the government's statement on the issue, Chowdary said the step has led to a civil war like situation in the state.
"It is an unfortunate decision announced in an autocratic manner. The Congress communicated the decision in a hasty manner," he said.
Chowdary said the decision was not in sync with the Sri Krishna Committee report and the report was not taken into consideration while bifurcating the state. "The eighth chapter of the report was kept confidential," he said.
M Venkaiah Naidu (BJP) also accused the government of taking the decision "in a hurry" and "without any proper homework."
"You are trying to score political points. There are nine ministers from Andhra Pradesh in the Central government. They have also been kept in the dark," Naidu said, accusing the government of not taking stakeholders in the loop on the creation of Telangana.
The senior leader, who insisted that the "clarification" should continue beyond the usual one hour keeping "seriousness"
of the issue in mind, said the government could have avoided the ongoing "bleeding" situation in the state had it gone into the nitty-gritty of the issue.
Naidu also advised the treasury bench not to treat Telangana issue as an "internal party matter", but take a holistic view to address the situation.
"Today, Congress is playing a dangerous game. You are playing with fire...You have made the statement on Telangana for political purposes," he said, accusing the government of taking such a decision without having a clear-cut policy and sitting idle on the issue for long.
Sukhendu Sekha Roy (AITC) said government's effort for a separate state has opened a Pandora's Box as it has let out demands for 21 more such states in the country.
"Assam is burning, some part of West Bengal is also burning," he said, adding if such demands are accepted, that day would not be too far when demands for city states would also be raised.
Accusing the government of sitting on the issue since the announcement was made on Telangana in 2009, Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said the hurried manner in which Congress now trying to settle the issue was "suspicious".
"It was in December, 2009, you have made the announcement and did nothing in between and now your are trying to do this in a hurry ahead of the election. The timing is thus suspicious," Yechury said.
Requesting the government not to "divide the state" and play with the sentiments of the local people, he said that by hurrying up, the government was "actually messing up things than what they are."
Biswajit Daimary (BPF) warned that if the demand for separate Bodoland in Assam was not met, the agitation would intensify.
