TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao was said to have asked his party MPs to confront the Centre on the ‘mess’ that had been caused by its failure to bifurcate the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, which showed up in the ongoing RTC strike in Telangana.
He asked them to repulse the attack on the State government if it was targeted by the BJP and Congress in the winter session of Parliament beginning on Monday, sources said.
‘Double standards’
Chairing a meeting of TRS Parliamentary Party (TRSPP) for the first time in his capacity as working president, Mr. Rao asked the MPs to expose the “double standards” of the BJP, while highlighting privatisation of routes of public transport as provided in the new Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act of the Centre. Though the legislation was taken up by the BJP-led government at the Centre, the party cried foul when the TRS government announced its decision to privatise 5,100 routes.
Advises restraint
He advised restraint on the part of MPs on the affidavit filed by the Andhra Pradesh government in the Supreme Court, praying that the Kaleshwaram project be not given national status.
He did not want them to react on it because it was a sensitive issue.
Nonetheless, he asked the MPs to raise their voice demanding national status to the Kaleshwaram project. This was among the 30 items on the agenda of the TRS Parliamentary Party meeting. The others included seeking Central funds for Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya. The party should corner the Centre on its failure to concede the promises made to Telangana in the bifurcation Act.
Mr. Rao handed over to the MPs copies of representations made to the Centre on the demands of the State government in the last six years. They should be highlighted in Parliament.
A release later said it was decided that the TRS would adopt an issue-based stand in Parliament, the ultimate aim being protection of the interests of the State. Since the formulation of Union Budget proposals had already begun, Mr. Rao asked the TRS MPs on various Parliamentary standing committees to ensure that the schemes and programmes of the departments concerned were extended to Telangana.
The TRS would launch construction of the party office in New Delhi to facilitate easy coordination with MPs in exchange of information.
