05-10-2005, 05:18 PM
The Statesman speculates: Hyderabadâs future
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Hyderabadâs future
Will Hyderabad be a part of the proposed state of Telangana? STANLEY THEODORE on the debate
<b>Will a separate Telangana be carved out or will it continue to be a part of Andhra Pradesh?</b> This question has been weighing on everyoneâs mind, especially since last yearâs general elections, after the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi formed an alliance. <b>The question that has overtaken the issue is: What about Hyderabad? As it is within Telangana, will the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad be part of the new state? </b>
If a new state is formed, should Hyderabad not be a Union Territory? Forget that, the city could be a new state itself, given its unique composition and culture! <b>The fate of the countryâs most happening city is being decided by the TRS. </b>Or so it would have us believe.
When Chief Minister YS Rajashekar Reddy said last year that the future of Hyderabad would need to be decided before carving out a new state, TRS leader and Union Minister of State for Rural Development, A Narendra, called him mad.
Now when the Panchayati Raj Minister, JC Diwakar Reddy, said in the event of the stateâs division, Hyderabad should be a joint capital, Mr Narendra said, âEvadi abba sommu? (Whose fatherâs property is Hyderabad?).â
In the meantime, TRS chief and Union Labour Minister, K Chandrashekar Reddy, said that no power on earth could stop Hyderabad from being part of Telangana. <b>Simply put: no new state, either a separate Telangana or separate Andhra Pradesh, holds any appeal without authority over Hyderabad, the fifth largest city, the fastest growing I-T centre and the countryâs evolving aviation hub. </b>
With its outskirts spread over the adjacent Rangareddy district it has a population of at least one crore, which comprises substantial residents from the rest of the 21 districts. Further, there is a sizeable population of those from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
They are thriving in different fields from trading to construction and information technology. Several of them made Hyderabad their home generations ago. <b>It is this composition that makes the city unparalleled anywhere in the country. </b>
The TRS, however, is laying claim to Hyderabad simply because it is in the Telangana region. Mr Narendra has contested seven elections from three different constituencies in the capital and on two party tickets since 1978.
He lost four times and won once on a BJP ticket in alliance with the Telugu Desam Party. In 2001, he formed the Telangana Saadhana Samithi and contested polls for the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad that year. Of the 100 wards, he put up TSS candidates for only 59 seats and could not find candidates for the remaining 41.
That same year, Chandrashekar Rao floated the TRS and did not find candidates for 13 wards. Finally, the TSS won just one ward, Gowlipura and the TRS two â Manikesh Nagar and Monda Market.
The TRS mayoral candidate, Nayani Narsimaha Reddy, a veteran of the 1969 separate Telangana agitation and at present a member of the state Cabinet, gathered 52,000 votes of a total electorate of 26.8 lakh. The TDP won the mayorâs seat and it could be inferred that their united state slogan had more bearing on the electorate.
<b>Later, the TSS merged with the TRS, but it is significant and undeniable that their slogan of a separate Telangana bombed in Hyderabad.</b> Mr Rao and Mr Narendra represent Karimnagar and Medak, respectively, in Parliament. The former visited the state once during this New Year, as he claimed to be busy in New Delhi.
In the past one year, he used his leverage as Union Cabinet Minister for a Rs 350-crore drinking water package for Karimnagar or precisely only the seven Assembly segments that form part of his constituency and not the drought-prone parts of that district. He is also having a survey done for a railway line from Hyderabad to Jagityal in Karimnagar via Siddipet, which he has represented in the Assembly since 1985.
This is despite 40 km of work being completed on the 180-km Peddapally-Karimnagar-Nizamabad railway project, on for 12 years. He has ignored getting the Budget sanctioned for the remaining 140 km, despite 100 km of the stretch being in his own Parliament segment.
Mr Narendraâs achievement is getting Rs 400 crore of work sanctioned from his ministry for his Medak constituency alone. <b>Between Mr Rao and Mr Narendra their contribution to Telangana, after being in office on that slogan for the past year, is next to nothing. And the less said the better about their contribution to Hyderabad, which they so fully claim as part of the prospective state. </b>
Hyderabad is facing a traffic crisis and they are not involved in the proposals for the monorail or metro projects even on paper.
The city has always been on the verge of a drinking water crisis and Mr Narendra fuelled his 1996 and 1998 campaigns in Medak by claiming that the Manjira drinking water scheme for the twin cities is depriving the area of water and that he would break those pipes if water was not given to Medak. This is after winning thrice from the city.
Largely because of this duplicity in word and action, many people believe that a separate Hyderabad is the only option. P Krishna Rao, founder of the Hyderabad State Forum, which wants Union Territory status for Hyderabad told this correspondent that the party would test its strength in the forthcoming municipal polls.
<b>âIt is a fallacy to think that the state would be divided into two parts â Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Actually carving out Telangana would create four new states âTelangana, Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and Hyderabad. This is what the people wantâ. </b>
Here state Congressmen loathe giving up on an emerging opportunity. On 13 May, they are holding a meeting of elected representatives from Telangana to launch a movement for Hyderabadâs future should Telangana be granted.
Organisers of this meeting said they would fight for statehood for the twin-cities and Rangareddy district. A letter by 37 Congress MLAs from Telangana supporting this would be at the heart of the event.
One Congress MP has confirmed participation and talks are on with others. Then they would proceed to Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi and other senior members of the partyâs central leadership to press for Hyderabadâs statehood.
It is hard to say, but it is a pertinent question: is Hyderabad a happening city or reeling towards disaster?
(The author is The Statesmanâs Hyderabad-based Special Representative.)
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This is how the UPA constituents are undermining the future happening city. Theonly reason the TRS got mileage was its alliance with the INC in defeating the CBN TD govt which really self defeated itself by rivalry and putting wrong candidates. But in balance YSR is better for the whole of AP.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Hyderabadâs future
Will Hyderabad be a part of the proposed state of Telangana? STANLEY THEODORE on the debate
<b>Will a separate Telangana be carved out or will it continue to be a part of Andhra Pradesh?</b> This question has been weighing on everyoneâs mind, especially since last yearâs general elections, after the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi formed an alliance. <b>The question that has overtaken the issue is: What about Hyderabad? As it is within Telangana, will the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad be part of the new state? </b>
If a new state is formed, should Hyderabad not be a Union Territory? Forget that, the city could be a new state itself, given its unique composition and culture! <b>The fate of the countryâs most happening city is being decided by the TRS. </b>Or so it would have us believe.
When Chief Minister YS Rajashekar Reddy said last year that the future of Hyderabad would need to be decided before carving out a new state, TRS leader and Union Minister of State for Rural Development, A Narendra, called him mad.
Now when the Panchayati Raj Minister, JC Diwakar Reddy, said in the event of the stateâs division, Hyderabad should be a joint capital, Mr Narendra said, âEvadi abba sommu? (Whose fatherâs property is Hyderabad?).â
In the meantime, TRS chief and Union Labour Minister, K Chandrashekar Reddy, said that no power on earth could stop Hyderabad from being part of Telangana. <b>Simply put: no new state, either a separate Telangana or separate Andhra Pradesh, holds any appeal without authority over Hyderabad, the fifth largest city, the fastest growing I-T centre and the countryâs evolving aviation hub. </b>
With its outskirts spread over the adjacent Rangareddy district it has a population of at least one crore, which comprises substantial residents from the rest of the 21 districts. Further, there is a sizeable population of those from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
They are thriving in different fields from trading to construction and information technology. Several of them made Hyderabad their home generations ago. <b>It is this composition that makes the city unparalleled anywhere in the country. </b>
The TRS, however, is laying claim to Hyderabad simply because it is in the Telangana region. Mr Narendra has contested seven elections from three different constituencies in the capital and on two party tickets since 1978.
He lost four times and won once on a BJP ticket in alliance with the Telugu Desam Party. In 2001, he formed the Telangana Saadhana Samithi and contested polls for the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad that year. Of the 100 wards, he put up TSS candidates for only 59 seats and could not find candidates for the remaining 41.
That same year, Chandrashekar Rao floated the TRS and did not find candidates for 13 wards. Finally, the TSS won just one ward, Gowlipura and the TRS two â Manikesh Nagar and Monda Market.
The TRS mayoral candidate, Nayani Narsimaha Reddy, a veteran of the 1969 separate Telangana agitation and at present a member of the state Cabinet, gathered 52,000 votes of a total electorate of 26.8 lakh. The TDP won the mayorâs seat and it could be inferred that their united state slogan had more bearing on the electorate.
<b>Later, the TSS merged with the TRS, but it is significant and undeniable that their slogan of a separate Telangana bombed in Hyderabad.</b> Mr Rao and Mr Narendra represent Karimnagar and Medak, respectively, in Parliament. The former visited the state once during this New Year, as he claimed to be busy in New Delhi.
In the past one year, he used his leverage as Union Cabinet Minister for a Rs 350-crore drinking water package for Karimnagar or precisely only the seven Assembly segments that form part of his constituency and not the drought-prone parts of that district. He is also having a survey done for a railway line from Hyderabad to Jagityal in Karimnagar via Siddipet, which he has represented in the Assembly since 1985.
This is despite 40 km of work being completed on the 180-km Peddapally-Karimnagar-Nizamabad railway project, on for 12 years. He has ignored getting the Budget sanctioned for the remaining 140 km, despite 100 km of the stretch being in his own Parliament segment.
Mr Narendraâs achievement is getting Rs 400 crore of work sanctioned from his ministry for his Medak constituency alone. <b>Between Mr Rao and Mr Narendra their contribution to Telangana, after being in office on that slogan for the past year, is next to nothing. And the less said the better about their contribution to Hyderabad, which they so fully claim as part of the prospective state. </b>
Hyderabad is facing a traffic crisis and they are not involved in the proposals for the monorail or metro projects even on paper.
The city has always been on the verge of a drinking water crisis and Mr Narendra fuelled his 1996 and 1998 campaigns in Medak by claiming that the Manjira drinking water scheme for the twin cities is depriving the area of water and that he would break those pipes if water was not given to Medak. This is after winning thrice from the city.
Largely because of this duplicity in word and action, many people believe that a separate Hyderabad is the only option. P Krishna Rao, founder of the Hyderabad State Forum, which wants Union Territory status for Hyderabad told this correspondent that the party would test its strength in the forthcoming municipal polls.
<b>âIt is a fallacy to think that the state would be divided into two parts â Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Actually carving out Telangana would create four new states âTelangana, Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and Hyderabad. This is what the people wantâ. </b>
Here state Congressmen loathe giving up on an emerging opportunity. On 13 May, they are holding a meeting of elected representatives from Telangana to launch a movement for Hyderabadâs future should Telangana be granted.
Organisers of this meeting said they would fight for statehood for the twin-cities and Rangareddy district. A letter by 37 Congress MLAs from Telangana supporting this would be at the heart of the event.
One Congress MP has confirmed participation and talks are on with others. Then they would proceed to Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi and other senior members of the partyâs central leadership to press for Hyderabadâs statehood.
It is hard to say, but it is a pertinent question: is Hyderabad a happening city or reeling towards disaster?
(The author is The Statesmanâs Hyderabad-based Special Representative.)
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is how the UPA constituents are undermining the future happening city. Theonly reason the TRS got mileage was its alliance with the INC in defeating the CBN TD govt which really self defeated itself by rivalry and putting wrong candidates. But in balance YSR is better for the whole of AP.