Are Telangana Congress leaders overconfident that the state will be bifurcated before the 2014 polls, while their Seemandhra counterparts are reasonably sure of slowing down the process?
A day after former PCC chief D Srinivas asserted that the formation of T-state was bound to happen, six Union ministers and nine Congress MPs from Seemandhra, on Saturday, expressed exactly the opposite view.
After their two-and-a-hour meeting at the Club House in Ministers’ Quarters, the Seemandhra lawmakers claimed that they had successfully slowed down the T-process and that their party leadership was in a rethink now. For a variety of reasons, the Seemandhra lawmakers are hopeful that there is no way out for their party high command from the current predicament.
During the meeting, the general mood was jubilant. They say the status of Hyderabad and sharing of river waters are the two key issues preventing their party leadership from taking forward the T-process.
Addressing the media after the lengthy meeting, Union minister Kavuri Sambasiva Rao expressed confidence that the Centre would reverse its T-decision.
Another Union minister D Purandeswari and MPs Ananta Venkatarami Reddy and Vundavalli Arun Kumar too said that the T-process had been stopped following the pressure they had exerted. “Had we not pressurised our party leadership to address the apprehensions of Seemandhra, the note on formation of T-state would have been presented before the Cabinet by now,” Purandeswari said.
Interestingly, Kavuri went further and said people were more important for them than the party and they would act according to the wishes of the people. But, before that they would make another attempt to convince their party high command to suspend the T-process.
According to him, they had decided to meet AICC supremo Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi to request them to suspend the T-process.
Some MPs expressed their anger at Union ministers for not playing a proactive role. Barring Kavuri, Chiranjeevi and Seelam, all others agreed to resign from the Cabinet.
Ministers Kavuri, Purandeswari, MM Pallam Raju, Chiranjeevi, Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy and JD Seelam, and MPs KVP Ramachandra Rao, Ananta Venkatarami Reddy, Lagadapati Rajagopal, Sai Pratap, Botcha Jhansi Lakshmi and others attended.
V Kishore Chandra Deo, Panabaka Lakshmi and Killi Krupa Rani, and MPs Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, GV Harsha Kumar and Chinta Mohan did not turn up.