Leaders of the Congress party from Krishna felt the brunt of the developments in the Lok Sabha in which the Telangana Bill was passed by a voice vote on Tuesday.
Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, who turned out to be the strongest protagonist of the Samaikyandhra movement, announced that he would take ‘political sanyas’ and step aside from active politics.
Penamaluru MLA and Minister for Secondary Education Kolusu Parathasarathy tendered his resignation to the party amongst rumours that he was going to join Telugu Desam.
Former Gannavaram MLA Mudraboina Venkateswara Rao has also resigned from the Congress. “I am deeply hurt that the high command of the Congress did not care at all for the feelings of the elected representatives of the party and even the Chief Minister. It did not even bother about the feelings of the people. Many of us have been with the Congress through very difficult times. I have faxed my resignation to the PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana,” he said.
A.P.Official Language Commission Chairman Mandali Buddha Prasad said the “Indian Constitution, democracy and Parliamentary system have been jointly rubbed into the dirty.”
Vijayawada City Congress working president Meesala Rajeswara Rao said “We wanted to be together, but that does not seem to be possible now. The people of Seemandhra developed Hyderabad. Now they can develop their own towns and villages. It is like developing our own homes,” he said.
Samaikyandhra political JAC convenor Kolanukonda Sivaji said all political parties were equally responsible for the bifurcation. The Telugu Desam and the YSRC were trying to target the Congress, he said. Seemandhra MPs and Union Ministers, who jumped into action at the eleventh hour, failed to convene the plight and aspirations of the people. Samata Party former national president V V Krishna Rao said a movement for Samaikyandhra deteriorated into a movement for Seemandhra. The people of Telangana, who wanted the State to be united, could not join the movement. The Chief Minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party played a political game. Extending his good wishes to the people of Telangana, he said he would continue to work for the unity of the Telugu people. The Telugus might be currently divided, but the culture and history would finally prevail, he said.
