Hyderabad:
Hectic efforts are on to try and stop Congress MPs, MLAs, state ministers and MLCs from Telangana from going ahead with their threat to quit unless the UPA government initiates steps for the formation of a separate Telangana state, on the lines of the December 9, 2009 announcement made by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.
Andhra Pradesh Congress (APPCC) chief Botsa Satyanarayana has called the Telangana leaders for a meeting and asked them to wait a little longer. Mr Satyanarayana said that this is a sensitive issue and that the sentiment of 8 crore people of Andhra Pradesh must be looked into.
The Telangana Congress leaders know that they will have to face the ire of pro-Telangana protesters including students if they retract without a concrete assurance from the leadership.
The Telangana Congress ministers, MPs and MLAs, however, remain adamant on their decision to quit their posts on July 4. (
Read: Congress leaders from Telangana to resign en masse on July 4)
"Botsa is doing his job, we are doing ours for the people of Telangana," said Keshav Rao, Congress MP.
"We are preparing to go to Delhi this evening and we will be submitting our resignation tomorrow," said Rajaiah, Congress MP from Telangana.
There are 42 Lok Sabha MPs from Andhra Pradesh. Out of these, eight are from Telangana who have threatened to quit. The one Rajya Sabha MP, Kesava Rao who is also from Congress, has also threatened to quit over the Telangana issue. Apart from this, 24 Congress MLAs, 10 ministers and 10 MLCs have also vowed to quit.
The revolt within the Congress over Telangana is not new. And its reinvigoration may stem from the fact that a few days ago, K Chandrasekhara Rao, or KCR as he's known, warned in a public speech that "Telangana will burn" if the PM doesn't deliver on a promise made by his government in 2009 to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh. (
Read: Telangana will not tolerate hera-pheri, warns KCR)
On December 9, 2009, the Centre had announced that the process for formation of a separate Telangana state would be initiated. This after 11 days of fasting by KCR, and massive violent protests in the Telangana region. However, after leaders from the non-Telangana areas of Andhra Pradesh objected, political parties in the state u-turned away from the path to a new state.
The Centre set up the Srikrishna Commission which travelled to different parts of Andhra Pradesh to gauge what people and their representatives really wanted. The Commission presented six options to the Centre. Since then, the government in Delhi has said only that it is assessing these options.
Congress leaders from Telangana had recently met the Prime Minister and senior leader Pranabh Mukherjee in Delhi. At that time, they said they'd be forced to take serious action if no new push for a Telangana state was made by the end of June.
Congress Rajya Sabha member K Keshavrao claimed that party leaders from non-Telangana regions were trying to scuttle the formation of Telangana by meeting top Congress leaders in the first week of July. The Congress has around 10 ministers in the state government, 50 MLAs and 11 MPs from Telangana.