Advani demands JPC to probe farmers' suicides in Andhra

Anantapur, Apr 15 (UNI) Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani today said the BJP would demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the causes and reasons for over 4,000 farmers committing suicides in Andhra Pradesh alone.

Addressing a series of roadside rallies between Guntakal and Ananthapur after recommencing his Bharat Suraksha Yatra after a gap of three days, he said the demand of political parties should be backed by public support. ''For this reason, people should write letters expressing their views in clear terms,'' he said, noting that the suicides in Andhra Pradesh were different from the suicides witnessed in other states.

Answering a question about the BJP's stand on creation of Telangana, he said the party's stand on the issue was ''consistent.'' ''There should be an unanimous resolution of the State Assembly for carving out a state from a state. This is a standard practice adopted while creating a new state be it Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh or Uttaranchal which were all accorded statehood during the NDA regime,'' he said.

Asked if he was expecting TDP to rejoin the NDA, Mr Advani said he had not said any such things but reminded that TDP had given outside support to the NDA government and had its nominee as the Lok Sabha Speaker for some time.

UNI MCN VD PM1621