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Meira Kumar disagrees with Punjab Congress's stand on Udham Singh Nagar

All India Congress Committee general secretary Meira Kumar has declined to go along with the Punjab Congress in opposing the Centre's decision to include Udham Singh Nagar in the proposed hill state of Uttaranchal.

Addressing the media in Chandigarh after the party dharna against price rise in the city, she said, "Why should we endorse or oppose the Cabinet decision (on Udham Singh Nagar)?" But when Punjab Congress president Capt Amrinder Singh, who was sitting by her side, was asked the same question he categorically stated, ''We oppose it.'' He said the Punjab Congress demand for excluding Udham Singh Nagar from the proposed new state was based on economic, cultural and linguistic considerations because the people of the area had "nothing in common" with the hill people and their economic interests would also get undermined if the district was included in the hill state.

Asked if Punjabi-speaking areas of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh should also be included in Punjab on the principle of their linguistic and cultural affinity with the state, Amrinder Singh replied in the affirmative, adding that it was not only a demand of the Akalis but also of the Congress which firmly held the belief that all such areas having contiguity with Punjab with village as the basic unit, should be included in the state.

Meira Kumar, however, said the Centre must respect the sentiments of the people of Udham Singh Nagar.

Asked if the Congress would support the present format of bill on the issue when introduced in Parliament, she quipped, ''We will cross the bridge when we come to it.''

Meira Kumar, in charge of Punjab affairs in the party, charged the ruling Akalis in Punjab with "running with the hare and hunting with the hound" on the Udham Singh Nagar issue.

She echoed the statement of Sushma Swaraj of the BJP by saying that senior Akali minister Surjit Singh Barnala was part of the group of ministers which approved the draft on Uttaranchal, and he also attended the cabinet meeting which took the decision to include the district in the proposed state.

Asked if the Congress in principle supported the case of smaller states in the country, she said each case had to be examined on merit.

UNI

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