HYDERABAD: Regional tensions in the state ahead of the expected January 28 decision of the UPA government on Telangana continued to mount with a Seemandhra delegation including 5 ministers airdashing to New Delhi on Tuesday evening on a ‘T-sabotage’ mission.
This was even as Telangana leaders warned of serious repercussions if attempts were made to scuttle the likely division of the state.
Infrastructure and investments minister Ghanta Srinivasa Rao went to the extent of announcing that all Seemandhra ministers, MLAs and MLCs will resign from their elected posts and quit the Congress in case the Centre goes ahead with Telangana.
Twenty-seven of the 42 ministers in the Kiran Kumar Reddy cabinet hail from the Seeamandhra region while 100 of the 175 MLAs from the two regions belong to the Congress.
The Seemandhra Congress leaders are slated to hold a meeting in Hyderabad on January 17 to discuss their next course of action, a move that the Telangana Congress and TRS leaders said they would oppose tooth and nail.
During the day, the Seemandhra Congress leaders restricted themselves to responding to the assertions of the Telangana ministers D Nagender and D Sridhar Babu that Telangana was imminent. In fact, it was for the first time that Danam spoke on the issue when he said that Telangana is going to become a reality with Hyderabad as the joint capital.
Telangana Congress leaders launch counter moves
In response, Ghanta Srinivasa Rao said that all Seemandhra ministers, MLAs and MLCs will quit in case Telangana happened.
But by the evening, the Seemandhra leaders displayed a sense of alarm and urgency which resulted in a delegation led by major irrigation minister T G Venkatesh rushing to Delhi with the aim of prevailing on the Congress central leadership not to divide the state.
The team comprised at least 6 ministers and 11 MLAs including Ghanta Srinivasa Rao, Kasu Krishna Reddy, P Viswarup, Erasu Pratap Reddy (ministers), P Neeraja Reddy, Kapu Ramachandra Reddy and P Murali Krishna, (MLAs) and B Changalrayudu (MLC).
“We received reliable information that the UPA government is seriously considering granting Telangana, hence the urgency to rush to Delhi and thwart such a move,” said one Seemandhra elader. In the meantime, Telangana Congress leaders too remained active, both in words and action, on Tuesday as part of their build-up to pressure the UPA government to announce the separate state and nothing less.
MLC from Nizamabad and former PCC chief D Srinivas met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday evening and urged her not to go back on the Telangana demand this time around.
In Hyderabad, even as T Congress leaders V Hanumantha Rao and K Keshava Rao warned their Seemandhra counterparts not to come in the way of the creation of the separate state, Telangana Jagruti president K Kavitha said that the Seemandhra leaders will not be allowed to hold their meeting in Hyderabad on Thursday. The Seemandhra leaders are slated to meet at the Club House inside the wellprotected Ministers Quarters on Banjara Hills, Road Number 12.
Meanwhile, cutting across party lines and joining hands in support of a region, YSR Congress party MLA Gurnatha Reddy, who represents Anantapur constituency in Rayalaseema, said he was ready to participate in the January 17 meeting called for by the Seemandhra leaders provided an invitation was extended. “We will revive the movement if Telangana is announced,” he said adding that personally, he was for united Andhra Pradesh. [Source: Times of India]