Congress MPs from Telangana on Monday disrupted President Pratibha Patil's address to the joint session of Parliament for a few seconds by suddenly bursting in shouts on “separate Telangana” issue.
Carrying placards, they, including Lok Sabha MPs G. Vivekanand, Manda Jaganannath and Anjan Kumar Yadav, shouted slogans like “Jai Telangana”, “Jai Congress” and “we want Telangana” even as Ms. Patil was about to conclude her speech. However she gave no reaction and continued to complete her speech. The MPs again raised slogans and tried to draw her attention with the banners on Telangana when she was leaving the Central Hall after completing her job.
Later, the MPs held a demonstration in front of the Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex to highlight that the President's address did not have a single word on “Telangana”. They addressed a press conference seeking the immediate “recall” of Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, who according to Mr. Vivekanand, was sending “false reports” to the Centre on the situation in the State and was supporting the cause of those who favoured “united Andhra Pradesh.”
Mr. Vivekanand, elected from Peddapalli constituency, said the Congress members from both Houses of Parliament from Telangana were planning to write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking Mr. Narasimhan's immediate recall.
Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member K. Kesava Rao, hailing from Telangana, who also joined the stir, warned the government of the situation going out of hand if Telangana was not formed.
The government was not realising the strong sentiments prevailing in the region for a separate Telangana state.
Mr. Rao clarified that they were not doing anything against the Congress party but only trying to attract its attention to the long-standing demand.
