Pranab Mukherjee was against Telangana formation, reveals memoir

By Mohammed Hussain Ahmed New Delhi : The former President of India Pranab Mukherjee in his book ‘The Presidential Year 2012-2017’ revealed that he was against the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh and the formation of Telangana State.  In the autobiography, Mukherjee said that he was not in favour of a separate ‘Telangana State’.  But, ironically, the bifurcation of united AP was done under his signature which he never imagined.
“Unified AP is the state which sends maximum number of Congress MPs to the Parliament.  If this state is bifurcated into two states, the Congress would be weakened in both the states.  A weakened Congress’s defeat in its bastion would stripped it of power at the Centre,” the book said.
The former President said that after sending him in Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Congress High command changed its stand.  “Decisions were taken in haste.  The political conditions prevailing then were also contributed to Sonia’s failure in running the party.  In 2014, BJP was expected to emerge as the largest party with 195-200 Lok Sabha seats, but Congress’s bad performance in some of the states also leads to the party’s decline,” the book revealed.