Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said on Sunday that the proposed division of the State should be deferred till the completion of the ensuing elections.
“There is hardly two months left for elections to the State Assembly. Let people decide whether they want the State to be divided or not,” Reddy, a strong votary of a united State, told a press conference here on Sunday.
When asked whether he meant that the Congress party, which is pushing for the bifurcation, should be defeated in the elections, he evaded reply. He only said that the elections should serve as a mandate for a decision on Telangana issue.
Reddy said President Pranab Mukherjee should consider the ‘unanimous rejection’ of the AP Reorganisation Bill by the State Assembly before referring it to Parliament.
“There has not been any instance of a State’s division after its Assembly rejected such a Bill in the history of the country. Even the bigger States were divided only with the consent of State Assembly,” he said.
All the parties which were supporting the cause of a united Andhra Pradesh, including the Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress Party, should come together to impress upon the President about the need to stop the division, the Chief Minister said.