AICC vicepresident Rahul Gandhi’s pep talk seems to have paid off at least on the Telangana front. The five Congress MPs from Telangana, who had been almost on a war path against their high command over the T issue till the other day, seem to have dropped their plans of switching loyalties, for now.
The three hardliners among them, G Vivekananda, Manda Jagannadham and Siricilla Rajaiah, appear to have resolved to put off their plan of jumping onto the TRS bandwagon for their political survival. Vivekananda, a vocal Telangana leader, on Friday said that after holding talks with Rahul Gandhi, they were fully convinced that he would do justice to Telangana soon.
The MP, who had been pressing for an early decision from his party’s high command on the separate State demand, told reporters that they could not set a deadline for Rahul for resolving the issue. As he had conceded their demand of meeting them separately, he said they would wait for the exclusive discussion with Rahul to know his mood over the T issue.
Vivek further said the MPs would not resign from the party as they still had faith in the party leadership. Interestingly, not only Vivek but also some of his colleagues, who more or less raised a banner of revolt against the high command recently, have softened their stance.
“Rahul Gandhi is a gentleman. We should give him ample time to decide the Telangana issue. We couldn’t compel him to take an early decision as he himself promised us that he would hold a separate meeting with us,” an MP, who had been attacking his party leadership till a few days ago, said. It is learnt that the MPs have changed their mind as they got some assurance that they would be again fielded from their sitting seats in the 2014 polls. Even Manda Jagannadham,
who has dropped hints that he would join the TRS, is said to be cautious now. As Rahul reportedly assured Manda that he would look into his complaint against minister DK Aruna, he is understood to have decided to “wait and watch”.