Welcoming President K R Narayanan's suggestion for giving due consideration for appointing them as judges in the apex court on the basis of merit, the Congress leader recalled Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's call on the eve of Independence in 1947 that removal of poverty, ignorance, disease and inequality of opportunity was his tryst with destiny.

Addressing a press conference here, Venkataswamy said that the President's suggestion in this regard was being misinterpreted. Narayanan had said that as there were judges belonging to weaker sections who were eligible for promotion to the Supreme Court on merit, due consideration should be given to these sections.

He appealed to Chief Justice of India and Prime Minister Vajpayee to work out a scheme whereby adequate representation wasgiven to deprived classes in judiciary. He said he had addressed a letter to the prime minister in this regard.

He recalled that following his demand special classes were being conducted for SC/ST candidates appearing for IAS, IPS, and ICS examinations since 1974 and many of them were successful. He hailed AICC president Sonia Gandhi for approving his two-decade-old demand of providing reservation to weaker sections in the Congress organisation.

On separate Telangana, the former MP said ``first we have to bring pressure on Assembly to pass a resolution and then ask the Centre for formation of separate state. There is no point in blaming the Congress without Assembly resolution,'' he added. He appealed to all Congress leaders from the state including Telangana to attend the Tirupathi meet.