HYDERABAD: In the wake of attack on ministers Ponnala Lakshmaiah, P Shankar Rao and MPs S Rajaiah, G Vivek and others when they visited Ekasila Park in Warangal to pay tributes to Professor K Jayashankar, the Telangana Congress MPs have decided to take the issue to the notice of the Congress Central leadership and insist on the need for separate Telangana state.
“Unless the Centre creates separate state, the people of the region will not believe the Congress. The Congress leadership should realise the prevailing situation in the region”, T Congress leaders said.
Speaking to newsmen at Gandhi Bhavan here on Wednesday, Nagarkurnool MP Manda Jagannadham, Kollapur MLA Jupally Krishna Rao and other leaders from Mahabubnagar district asserted that there was no choice but to give Telangana state as the people were losing faith in the Congress government.
The Congress leaders were not in a position to visit their constituencies in the region, he added.
Replying to a query, Jagannadham made it clear that they have not put any deadline for the Congress high command on Telangana, but only informed the action programme to be launched by them in July. All the MPs would go on an indefinite fast from July 5 and would later submit resignations to the posts if there was no response from the party leadership.
Meanwhile, textiles minister P Shankar Rao who had a bitter experience at Warangal earlier in the day, later told newsmen here that some ‘anti-Telangana forces’ were behind the attack. He hoped that a ‘convincing message’ from the Centre would come on Telangana by end of this month. “Telangana state will definitely come and there is no need to damage property or commit suicides,’’ he added.
On this occasion, Shankar Rao urged the state governor and the chief minister to take steps for naming Kakatiya University after Professor Jayashankar.
AICC secretary P Sudhakar Reddy said the ‘forces’ behind the attack on Congress leaders in Warangal would be known if a probe is ordered into the incident.
[New Indian Express]