Congress MPs set Jan 28 deadline for T-decision

Hyderabad, January 25: The Lok Sabha MPs from Telangana region on Friday asked the Congress High Command to announce its decision on separate Telangana by January 28.

In a letter reportedly sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the MPs have made clear that they would accept nothing short of Telangana State and it should be announced by January 28. If the Centre fails to act, then on January 29, the MPs would announce their future course of action.

Although the MPs, who met here at the residence of Nagarurnool MP Manda Jagannatham, did not specify as to what could be their future course of action, sources say that they have decided to resign en masse on January 29.

Talking to reporters, former PCC chief K Keshav Rao said that Congress leaders would take firm decision on January 29 if the Congress High Command fails to act immediately. Stating that the leaders were ready to sacrifice anything to achieve statehood, he also did not rule out them joining other parties.

The Nagarkurnool MP said the Telangana Congress leaders were hurt with the statement of Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Telangana issue. He said further delay in announcing the decision on Telangana would damage the Congress party’s image in the region.

Lok Sabha MPs G Vivek and Ponnam Prabhakar also spoke. They also criticised PCC president Botsa Satyaranaraya for attending the Samaikhya Andhra meeting organised by MP U Arun Kumar.

- INN