Centre speaking with a forked tongue: Revanth

HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam Telangana leader and MLA Revanth Reddy has accused the Union home ministry of taking contradictory stands on Clause 14 (f) of the Presidential Order which gives Hyderabad the status of a free zone in the matter of appointments to the police department.Pointing out that the ministry gave two mutually contradictory versions, one in Delhi and the other in Hyderabad on August 5, Reddy told reporters here on Sunday that home minister P Chidambaram had said on the floor of the Lok Sabha the request from chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on deletion of the clause was taken into consideration and the file for deletion of the caluse had been sent to the President. The home minister indicated that there was no need for the Assembly to adopt a fresh resolution demanding deletion of the clause for conducting the SI recruitment examination.But, on the same day, Union home secretary VS Pandey filed a counter in the High Court here stating that the Assembly had to pass a fresh resolution urging the Centre to delete Clause 14(f) and it would then be looked into by the cabinet committee on political affairs. The   secretary filed his counter to a petition filed by M Narayana of Nizamabad demanding deletion of 14(f), Revanth Reddy said and wondered how come the home department presented two different versions on the same subject on the same day.“Only one of the two statements could be correct. If Chidambaram misled the members of the Lok Sabha, the MPs should move a privilege motion against him and he should be removed as Union home minister. If Chidambaram’s statement is correct, then the home secretary’s statement is wrong and he should be jailed for misleading the court.’’On  Chidambaram’s suggestion for consensus on Telangana, Revanth Reddy said “If there is a consensus among Telugu people, there is no need for a separate state. As there are differences of opinion among the m, they are demanding a separate state and it is the responsibility of the Centre to carve out a new state.’’Claiming that two-thirds members of the Lok Sabha were in favour of a separate state, Reddy recalled that TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao had submitted letters from 38 parties supporting separate Telangana state.