The rift in the Congress over the Telangana issue is likely to pose problems to the party during the coming budget session of the Assembly with legislators from Telangana threatening to stay away from the proceedings if the terms of reference of Srikrishna Committee were against their interests.
Party legislator from Gajwel Narsa Reddy and former Minister T. Jeevan Reddy, who met the Congress Working Committee member K. Keshava Rao on Tuesday, told reporters that the MLAs would not hesitate to boycott the session to pressure the Centre.
Sources said the leaders reportedly lamented delay in announcement of the terms of reference. They opined that pressuring the party leadership was the only way to force the government to announce the terms.
The leaders reportedly told Dr. Rao that party legislators were against attending the session till they got a satisfactory response from the Centre on the terms of reference.
After the warning by the two leaders, Dr. Rao hurriedly summoned journalists and termed their remarks “immature” and “ill-timed.” He took pains to explain to the media that the statements were made in haste without realising the fact that the Congress leadership was engaged in finding a solution to the statehood issue. He pointed out that it should be understood that the Central government was proceeding in accordance with the December 9 statement.
Congress MLA R. Damodar Reddywarned leaders from Andhra region not to speak against Telangana. Leaders from Andhra and Rayalaseema, on the other hand, questioned the haste of their counterparts from Telangana in threatening to boycott the session.
‘Improper’
Government Whip Sake Sailajanath told reporters that it was not proper for the Telangana leaders to issue such threats.
