Naidu wants Parliament to discuss reservation issue

New Delhi, Mar 31 (UNI) Telugu Desam supremo N Chandrababu Naidu today urged the Centre to convene a special session of Parliament to discuss the Supreme Court's order staying the implementation of reservation for OBCs in institutions of higher education. Mr Naidu told newspersons here it was obvious lawyers representing the government did not convince the Supreme Court about all the facts on the need for providing reservation to the OBCs. He said the government should file a review petition seeking lifting of the order.

Besides the OBCs, the government also need to withdraw its ''negative affidavit'' filed in the apex court regarding Andhra Pradesh providing five per cent reservation for Muslims and file a fresh petition.

He said backward students 'cannot be denied opportunities to study' in institutions like IIMs and IITs for ever. The government has to find a way out soon. The government should convene an all party meeting to discuss the issue, he added.

Mr Naidu wanted the Centre to stop 'illegal' construction of Bobbili Irrigation Project in the upstream of Sri Ram Sagar Project on Godavari river. Although Maharashtra claims it was only a ten TMC project, it was capable of utilising upto 30 to 40 tmc of water for two crops. This would deny waters to five to six backward districts of Telangana.

Asked about the Congress' allegation that the Telugu Desam government could not do anything to stop the construction of Alamatti project on Krishna river in Karnataka, Mr Naidu said it was a matter of record the TDP was able to reduce the dam height by constituting a five-member Chief Minister panel when Mr H D Deve Gowda was the Prime Minister.

He said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhara Reddy was an MP and knows every fact. Now a Congress government is in power in Andhra Pradesh as well as in Maharashtra and added the Congress-led UPA coalition is at the Centre. ''Let Mr Reddy stop the Bobbili project using his clout,'' he added.

UNI