The road to Telengana has been a tortuous one. Acrimony persists even four years after the decision to split Andhra Pradesh was taken by the Centre. The GoM on Telangana is having its third meeting but conflict continues. The creation of Telagana has led to considerable political bickering.TRS leader K.Chandrashikhar Rao has written to the Centre demanding that Hyderabad be the shared capital of Andhra and Telengana for two years instead of ten. He has also laid claim to the oil and natural gas resources of the Krishna- Godavari basin.A further demand is for the relocation of government employees from Seemandhra who hold jobs reserved for the people of Telengana. On the other hand, there is still opposition to the division. Both the Telugu Desam and the state Congress remain divided.
The Centre has obviously gone ahead with the decision to create Telengana without preparing the ground work. It should have been done during the last five years of vacillation. It was only last month that the Union Home Ministry thrust the job on the GoM. Various issues have to be dealt with – the status of Hydrabad, law and order, sharing of investments and natural resources plus equitable distribution of jobs as per Article 371(D). The daunting challenge is on the Centre’s plate. The GoM has to iron out all the differences. Otherwise, there may be dire consequences spilling over into other parts of India.
