HYDERABAD: The Telangana issue rocked the Telugu Desam Politburo meeting here on Thursday with rebel leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy bringing pressure on party chief N Chandrababu Nadu to spell out the party's stand clearly on the separate statehood demand.
Nagam, who initially toyed with the idea of skipping the meeting, changed his mind and attended. He told Naidu that there was no clarity on the party's stand on Telangana and wanted him to clearly state his stand.
Party insiders said that at this time, Ramesh Rathod, MP, snubbed Nagam and wondered why he was dividing the party. "You had invited two MLAs from Adilabad district to the Nagarkurnool meeting but there was no invitation to me," Rathod told Nagam. “If the Nagarkurnool meeting was a party programme, how come you did not invite all leaders?" he asked Nagam. Naidu suggested to Nagam that he should organise meetings under the party flag as all Telangana leaders were given a free hand to organise programmes in tune with the aspirations of the local people.
When Nagam tried to utter "your party flag", Naidu objected and retorted: "Why are you saying ‘your party'?". If Nagam said something, there were others from his region ready to counter him and the Politburo meeting would end up nowhere, Naidu said and advised Telangana seniors to meet in the evening and chalk out their own programmes using the party flag and cited the example of the TRS.
Nagam insisted that Naidu clarify once again that the TDP was committed to its resolution favouring creation of Telangana state as adopted at its Politburo meeting in 2009, a copy of which had been sent to the Pranab Mukherjee Committee. The copy of the resolution should also be sent to Union home minister P Chidamabaram, Nagam insisted. But Naidu gave no categorical assurance on this.
The Politburo meeting adopted several resolutions and approved Naidu's three-day tour of districts on farmers' problems. The party decided to organise road-blockade on May 19 demanding MSP for paddy. It wanted cancellation of all mining leases and announcement of a fresh mining policy. It constituted a four-member committee headed by Yanamala Ramakrishunudu to prepare a draft of the land acquisition bill on relief and rehabilitation packages and acquisition of fertile lands.
