MIM finally says no to Telangana

Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (MIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi finally broke his silence on the contentious Telangana issue, declaring the party was not in favour of a separate state.

Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (MIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi finally broke his silence on the contentious Telangana issue, declaring the party was not in favour of a separate state.

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“We will strongly oppose any move to divide Andhra Pradesh and there is no ambiguity on that,” Owaisi said.

Spelling out his party’s stand on the issue, Owaisi who had not showed his cards for long also rejected the suggestion of Hyderabad made a union territory.

“Hyderabad cannot be a union territory as there is no geographical contiguity like Punjab and Haryana have with Chandigarh,” he said.

There have been suggestions Hyderabad be made a union territory for 25 years if Telangana is carved out of Andhra Pradesh.

This is for the first time that the MIM has come out with its take on the issue. The Centre had till recently blamed the MIM along with the Congress, TDP and the YSR Congress for a delay in a decision on Telangana as they had not made their stand clear.

While the TDP recently stated it was not against Telangana, the YSR Congress has asked the Congress to come out with its stand first and then call a meeting of all stakeholders to take a final decision.

Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Thursday promised the government would soon take a decision “either way”.

Shinde’s assurance is a change from his stance just last month when he had refused to set a deadline on Telangana, saying the government had failed to meet them in the past.

“It seems difficult to get consensus, some people say it should be done while others say it should not be,” he had said.