With the back-to-back meetings of UPA Coordination Committee and Congress Working Committee scheduled in New Delhi on Tuesday evening apparently to take a final call on Telangana, Ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs of Seemandhra are leaving for the capital to make a last-ditch effort to avert the State’s bifurcation.
Kamalapuram MLA G. Veerasiva Reddy, J.C. Diwakar Reddy, MPs Anantha Venkatrami Reddy, Vundavalli Aruna Kumar, Ministers T.G. Venkatesh, Ganta Srinivasa Rao and E. Pratap Reddy met Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday in the light of the Delhi developments. The team is hopeful of meeting AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi ahead of the CWC meeting to impress upon him the need for keeping the State united.
Any decision on bifurcation without adequately addressing complicated issues like water, jobs and revenue would lead to further problems. Mr. Venkatesh said a letter had been addressed to the party high command stating that it would become untenable for them to continue as Ministers in the event of bifurcation. “Resignations are not an issue but keeping the State united is,” he said.
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He lamented that the major Opposition parties, including the TDP and the YSR Congress, gave their consent for Telangana that set the process in motion. The two parties could send a single line resolution against bifurcation to the party high command and the UPA. “The Congress will consider their views before giving its own stand,” Mr.Venkatesh said.
As creation of Telangana would fan the demand for division in several other States as was evident from Gorkhaland, Mr. Venkatesh hoped that the government and Congress leaders would be cautious in their approach.
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Ms. Ananta Venkatarami Reddy said no decision had been taken on the Telangana issue so far and the talk of Rayala-Telangana was ``just a figment of imagination.’’ Asked whether the Seemandhra MPs, Ministers would resort to resignations, he said they were confident that the State would remain united.
At a separate press conference later, Mr. Veerasiva Reddy and another MLA A. Prabhakar Reddy said it was for the Union Ministers and MPs to mount pressure on the party leadership against conceding the separate State.
Asserting that the Seemandhra people were strongly opposed to bifurcation, Mr. Prabhakar Reddy faulted the pro-Telangana parties for equating Telangana with Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh and said the two States were carved out of tribal areas as they needed special attention. This was not the case with Telangana.