NAINITAL: Rejecting the charge that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government had "deceived'' the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) or the people of the region, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that so far there was no "consensus'' in the coalition on the issue of separate Telengana.

Ms. Gandhi, who is also the chairperson of the UPA, said that the Common Minimum Programme clearly stated that a consensus has to be arrived at. She said both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee were discussing the issue with leaders of the allies.

"So far we have not been able to arrive at a consensus and we are still committed to work towards finding a consensus,'' Ms. Gandhi said at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Dr. Singh here at the end of the two-day Congress Chief Ministers' conclave.

Repeated charge

Her remarks came in the wake of a repeated charge by the TRS chief that the Congress party had "cheated'' the people of the region who had voted for the party in the last Assembly elections. As far as the TRS and its chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao were concerned, she said the party had not closed the doors nor has it deceived any party. Ms. Gandhi's response came a day after Mr. Rao sent a letter to the President conveying his decision to withdraw support to the UPA.

Speaking separately to the media, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy said that the situation after the TRS pulled out from the UPA did not figure in the discussions in Nainital and reminded that the issue was neither the sole concern nor monopoly of the TRS.

Dr. Reddy insisted that it was the Congress legislators form the region who drew the attention of the party leadership on Telangana.

YSR satisfied

The Chief Minister expressed satisfaction over the outcome of the two-day exercise, especially the in-depth discussion on various problems of agriculture. He said the Prime Minister had assured him that the Government would examine all the suggestions made by him during the deliberations here.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail