Except formation of a Telangana State with Hyderabad as its capital, no other proposal is acceptable either to us or the people of the region -- This, in short, is the essence of the roadmap, being drafted by Deputy Chief Minister C Damodara Rajanarasimha, for the Congress high command’s “final deliberations” on the tricky issue.
In this draft, it is understood that Telangana Congress leaders have categorically rejected the putative idea of a Rayala-Telangana State and with it, every other suggestion like making Hyderabad, the joint capital of two States in case Andhra Pradesh is indeed divided.
With just five days left for the highly-anticipated meeting of the Congress core committee __ to be exact this Friday __, the Telangana Congress leaders under the leadership of Rajanarasimha and Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy have begun giving shape to their roadmap for resolving the T-tangle. Rajanarasimha held discussions with ministers, Congress seniors, party MPs and intellectuals from Telangana here Sunday.
Besides Jana Reddy, 10 other ministers from Telangana such as D Sridhar Babu and B Saraiah, MPs Palvai Govardhan Reddy, S Rajaiah and Ponnam Prabhakar and party seniors like KR Amose attended the brainstorming session. Even Telangana people’s organisations’ JAC chief Gajjala Kantham and OU JAC leaders Pidamarthi Ravi were present.
“While explaining the historical necessity for according statehood to Telangana, we are also elaborately describing how Telangana has been discriminated against by successive rulers in the State for the past 50 years,” a senior leader, who took part in the exercise, told Express.
According to sources, the T-Congress leaders also touched upon objections being raised by their Seemandhra counterparts to the bifurcation of the State such as the safety of Seemandhra settlers in Hyderabad and sharing of river waters between the two proposed states and suggested solutions.
They suspect Seemandhra leaders will try to use these two key issues to lobby against the formation of a Telangana state.
“We have prepared an argument against these two issues to counter the false propaganda of Seemandhra leaders. Congress will protect the lives and properties of Seemandhra settlers in Hyderabad whereas sharing of river waters will be looked after by the river water tribunal,” an MP said.
“This brainstorming will continue on Monday and Tuesday also. Hence, we request Telangana intellectuals and others to give us their valuable suggestions. The roadmap will be submitted by the Deputy Chief Minister to the Congress high command at the crucial meeting of the party core committee,” said Saraiah.
Interestingly, minister J Geeta Reddy also held a separate meeting with some Congress leaders and Telangana intellectuals at her residence.