Telangana Congress leaders leave for ‘last’ Delhi visit
June 15th, 2011 - 11:39 am ICT by IANS
Hyderabad, June 15 (IANS) In a last-ditch effort to pressurise Congress leadership on the Telangana issue, the party leaders from the region Wednesday left for New Delhi to meet core committee members.
The Congress leaders, including MPs, state ministers and legislators, will call on union Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday afternoon and union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the evening.
The party leaders have already set June 30 as the deadline for the party leadership to make a clear-cut statement on the demand for a separate Telangana state.
They want the central government to abide by its Dec 9, 2009 statement on the issue and table a bill in the ensuing parliament session to carve out a separate state.
Terming it as the “last visit to Delhi” on the issue, legislator Damodar Reddy said if the leadership failed to respond positively, they would chalk out a direct action plan. “We are ready to make any sacrifice for Telangana,” he told reporters at the airport.
Member of Parliament G. Sukhender Reddy said while they were ready to undertake any number of visits to Delhi, they would not agree to anything less than a separate state.
“No package or any other alternative is acceptable to us,” he said, when asked to comment on reports that the centre may agree to give a special economic package and Gorkhaland-like autonomy to Telangana, but not separate statehood.
The MPs had last week called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who assured to discuss the issue with the party leadership.
Jupalli Krishna Rao, a state minister, resigned earlier this month while some other ministers are planning to follow suit if the centre delays a decision on the issue.
Following a hunger strike by Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao, the centre on Dec 9, 2009 had announced that the steps for formation of a separate Telangana state will be initiated.
As the statement sparked protests in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, the government went on backfoot and decided to have wider consultations.
The government later constituted the Srikrishna committee which suggested six options, including formation of a separate Telangana state and maintaining status quo.
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- Decision on Telangana in a week, Pranab assures Congress leaders - Jun 16, 2011
- Telangana Congress leaders launch 48-hour fast - Jul 13, 2011
- Telangana Congress MPs threaten resignations - Jan 02, 2011
- Andhra minister quits over Telangana issue - Mar 03, 2011
- Andhra minister quits over Telangana issue (Lead) - Mar 03, 2011
- No alternative to Telangana, Andhra leaders tell Azad - Jul 22, 2011
- Andhra minister threatens to quit over Telangana - Jan 07, 2011
- Telangana leaders rule out withdrawing resignations - Jul 18, 2011
- Three legislators quit Congress, join TRS - Oct 30, 2011
- Congress leaders return without assurance on Telangana - Jul 06, 2011
- Telangana Congress leaders arrested near Osmania University - Jul 11, 2011
- Congress leaders to mount pressure for Telangana - Jun 05, 2011
- Telangana Congress MPs to boycott parliament session - Aug 14, 2011
- Nothing less than Telangana acceptable, say TRS, TDP (Lead) - Jan 06, 2011
Tags: congress leaders, congress leadership, core committee, economic package, hunger strike, krishna rao, last ditch effort, manmohan singh, member of parliament, p chidambaram, parliament session, party leadership, pranab mukherjee, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, state minister, state ministers, telangana, union finance minister, union home minister