A book was released on Friday at Hotel Fortune Murali Park, Vijayawada on the impossibility of dividing Andhra Pradesh constitutionally. The title of the book is “Impossible To Divide the State As Per The Constitution” written by Mettegunta Ramakrishna who is also a petitioner in Supreme Court filing a PIL on the decision of the Government to bifurcate the State.

In the above meeting the speakers debated on the issue tried to answer for the question whether it is impossible as per the constitution to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh as being attempted by the Central Government but no firm conclusions were drawn.

The author of the book expressed his opinion that Article 3 and 371 D are hurdles for that attempt which was disagreed by Viajyawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal. He said that Article 3 cannot be a hurdle and article 371 D may not be that strong a hurdle to stop the process of bifurcation.

Bezawada Bar Association President Matta Jayakar Babu said that an amendment to Article 368 is required to remove the hurdle of 371D. Some of the lawyers present said that it may be difficult to say now as everything depends on how the case is presented and how the judges interpret the legal aspect of those articles.

Some are in the opinion that it is not a State bifurcation but a demerger, as once the two regions were merged. Although many points of view were presented by the debaters, the meeting could not establish any conclusions.

-SriJa