KK asks Centre to hold talks with states on CAA

HYDERABAD: TRS Parliamentary Party leader K Keshava Rao suggested that the Central government initiate a fresh dialogue with all States on Citizenship Amendment Act. “Let us all sit together, discuss and sort out things. Then we can find some solution,” Keshava Rao said during a debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Keshava Rao said that several States had expressed their unhappiness over CAA. “Some more States may say that what you (the Central government) are doing is wrong. If all the States say that the Centre is wrong, then what will happen,” Keshava Rao wondered.

Keshava Rao also drew an analogy between implementation of CAA now and imposition of Hindi in the country in the past. When Hindi was forcibly imposed, two Union ministers from Madras state had resigned protesting the government’s language policy. The then President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan directed the Prime Minister to talk to the States and find a solution, the TRS leader recalled. He wanted similar efforts from the present BJP government at the Centre on CAA.

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Meanwhile, participating in the debate in Lok Sabha, TRS floor leader Nama Nageswara Rao said that the TRS opposed the CAA, as it felt that Hindus and Muslims should live in harmony. Nama recalled that the TRS had supported repeal of Article 370. “When several parties termed the repeal of Article 370 as a dark day, the TRS termed it Kranti Diwas,” Nama recalled.

Nama sought the Centre’s support for newly-formed Telangana. “The 15th Finance Commission recommendations have rendered injustice to southern States. There is an abnormal delay in releasing the dues of GST/IGST to the State,” the leader alleged.

He pointed out that the State’s GSDP growth was 15 per cent. He claimed that Gandhi’s Grama Swaraj was being implemented in true spirit in Telangana.