Telangana Congress MPs threaten resignations
By IANSSunday, January 2, 2011
HYDERABAD - Congress MPs from Telangana Sunday threatened to resign if the Srikrishna committee recommends against forming a separate Telangana state.
The MPs, legislators and other leaders, who met here to chalk out their strategy on the Telangana issue, made it clear that they would not accept anything less than a separate state.
The meeting demanded that the central government table a bill in parliament during the budget session to carve out a Telangana state.
They also felt that the all-party meeting called by Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Jan 6 on the report of Srikrishna committee would serve no purpose.
“The meeting is an exercise in futility,” Congress legislator Damodar Reddy told reporters after the meeting.
A section of leaders said those attending the meeting on behalf of the party should put forward strongly their views in favour of Telangana. They were also of the view that the protest for a separate state should begin during the meeting itself if the Srikrishna committee’s report is against Telangana.
Member of parliament G. Sukhender Reddy said they were ready to make any sacrifice, including their resignations, if the report is against the formation of Telangana state.
Another MP, Ponnam Prabhakar, said they believed in the assurance of the central leadership on Telangana and hoped that the process for formation of separate state would begin in line with the government’s announcement of Dec 9, 2009.
Meanwhile, addressing a meeting of employees from Telangana, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member K. Keshava Rao said he had already conveyed to party president Sonia Gandhi that their only demand was a separate state.
Keshava Rao also said the goal of Telangana state could be achieved only if leaders of Telangana rise above political affiliations and fight unitedly.
