After much dilly-dallying, Union ministers and Congress MPs from Seemandhra have decided to take on their party high command on the status of Hyderabad if the state is to be divided.
A day ahead of their scheduled meeting with the Antony Committee in Delhi on Tuesday, nine Union ministers and scores of party MPs from Seemandhra sent out feelers on Monday that they were even ready to quit their posts for the sake of United AP if their party high command did not pay heed to their demands.
They have gathered news clippings and video footages of the ongoing agitation in Seemandhra to show them how intense the agitation is.
They are learnt to have decided to request the high command to make an announcement amending the Congress Working Committee’s resolution to form Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital. They want the amendment in such a way that Hyderabad be made either a Union Territory or a separate state to provide equal rights to people of all regions over the city.
They decided to tell the committee that in unequivocal terms that they would not hesitate to resign from the Union cabinet if the aspirations of Seemandhra people were not taken into consideration, particularly on the status of Hyderabd. According to sources, the ministers resolved to pressure their party leadership to make an announcement to that effect before the completion of the ongoing session of Parliament. If such an announcement was not made, the Seemandhra Union ministers and MPs might quit their posts.
The meeting was held in Delhi on Monday evening under the leadership of Kavuri Sambasiva Rao and MM Pallam Raju.
Back in Hyderabad, state minister Sake Sailajanath said they would ask the Antony committee how it would address the contentious issues such as sharing of river waters and revenue.
“We have not changed our stance on United AP. We will ask the Antony committee to keep the state intact as a majority people of the state are opposing division of state. We will also ask the committee to recommend to the Centre to set up a second Statess reorganisation commission (SRC) to look into the demands for Telangana and other new states in the country.”
He made it clear that all Congress MLAs from Seemandhra would ensure that the Telangana resolution would be defeated in the Assembly if it was referred to the state by the Centre.