The Congress MPs from the Telangana region, who have again started disrupting the parliamentary proceedings on the separate State issue, on Tuesday made it clear that nothing short of Telangana State was acceptable to them and they would continue to agitate inside and outside the parliament come what may till their demands were met.
Peddapalli Lok Sabha member G. Vivekanand told journalists here that it would be good for the party’s future if the separate State was carved out immediately. Reports on decision to provide special financial/social package for Telangana or setting up of a regional council on the Gorkhaland model would not convince the people who were already very much agitated. When Congress president Sonia Gandhi herself had clearly stated that the party had no hesitation in giving Telangana why there was undue delay in going ahead with the implementation of the decision?
Mr. Vivekanand slammed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy for his decision to allot the Bayyaram (in Khammam district) iron ore mines to Vizag Steel Plant, and urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in the matter and cancel the decision. “This move of the State government has once again brought up the issue of giving away Telangana assets to others and deny employment and revenue generation in Telangana,” he charged.
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Nagarkurnool MP Manda Jagannath claimed that when the Telangana Congress MPs met Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma on the issue on Tuesday, the latter had promised them that the Centre was willing to set up an integrated steel plant in Bayyaram if the State government earmarked 5000 acres for the plant.
Sircilla MP C. Rajaiah said the Telangana region was discriminated against by the State government even in the allotment of national highways and railway projects.