Under no political pressure, says justice Srikrishna on Telangana issue

Justice B N Srikrishna, chairman of the committee appointed by the Centre to examine the situation in Andhra Pradesh over the Telangana issue, today said his panel would not not come under any political pressure.

"All my life, nobody has dared to pressurise me. Not even my parents, forget political leaders," he told reporters here during a two-day visit to the Andhra Pradesh capital.

He was asked whether the committee faced any political pressure.

On the reported complaint from CPI that the government did not give some information, including 1969 Bhargava committee report on Telangana, Srikrishna said nothing can be hidden in today's world where everything is in public domain.

"How can it be? With RTI, everything is available today. Unless the government amends the RTI Act, judges' assets, cabinet discussions, everything will be available today."

"What about committee report. I don't think so. How can it be. In the good old days, it used to happen. These are not the days of hiding anything. Everything is in public." 

"Why do you think I am sitting here and talking to all of you? I could have done the whole thing sitting in Vignan Bhavan (in Delhi). Anyway, it can never be hidden from us. We have to look into it, we will certainly ask for it, we will get it on our table," he said.