Talking to reporters here YSRCP MLA Srikantha Reddy said that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who has been running around Delhi, should quit immediately proving his sincerity as the Congress high command has made the Party stand clear. TDP MPs as well should mount pressure on N Chandrababu Naidu and ask him to take back the letter extending support for the bifurcation.

Instead of pursuing the issue with their respective leadership, MPs of Congress and TDP trying to show off resentment in the Parliament tantamount to enacting drama to gain personal and political mileage. As Congress high Command has taken a decision to divide the state, the MPs should question Congress President Sonia Gandhi or quit as they differ with the Party stand, he said.

Srikantha Reddy said that the TDP MPs too were resorting to the same tactics. They are trying to put up a poor show in the Parliament by stalling the proceedings while the Party leader had in no uncertain terms gave a letter extending unconditional support to the bifurcation of the State much earlier, he said.

“The TDP MPs should be questioning Chandrababu Naidu and mount pressure on him to withdraw the letter which became instrumental in the division of the State. Some of the MPs who said they had quit the House had not given the resignation letter in the prescribed format.

Only Nandamuri Harikrishna had given it in the required format. Other MPs have only been trying to gain sympathy and political mileage by announcing that they are quitting their MP post without putting in the papers according to the procedure”, he said.

“YSRCP on the other hand has made its stand very clear and has said that the division should be taken up only after all issues are considered and addressed properly by meting out equal justice to all regions. We have quit on those grounds and we stand by the letter.

What Congress and TDP MPs are doing is to show off that they are with the people of Seemandhra, who are expressing their dissent at all the available avenues even as the leadership has taken a decision which goes against the sentiments of the people.

This dichotomy is not acceptable and people are averse to such a ploy. Either the leaders should en masse call upon the leadership to revoke the decision or quit the Party to prove their sincerity. Otherwise the stalling of Parliament proceedings and display of placards would be read as scrambling for cheap publicity and putting up a fight which has no significance and sincerity”, he said. INN

Talking to reporters in the Assembly premises here, Sudhakar Reddy alleged that Modi’s visit was aimed at disturbing the peaceful atmosphere of Hyderabad. He also condemned TDP MLA Errabelli Dayakar Rao for his alleged remarks praising Modi and stating that Modi and TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu would do wonders if they join hands. He said that Naidu was part of the NDA for several years and they failed to bring any development in the country. He said such statements were being issued to mislead the people.

Sudhakar Reddy also slammed Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal for threatening to stall the Food Security Bill in the Lok Sabha. He said that Rajagopal should make statements that match his stature and he had no powers or capability to stall a bill. He said Rajagopal should quit the party if he desires to make such anti-Congress statements.

- INN

“We are not against bifurcation but we are against the way in which Congress has mishandled the situation. We wrote to the Centre that the issue should be sorted out like a family matter if the division is inevitable and work out a solution that is agreeable to all concerned. The suggestion was not taken in the right spirit and the announcement was made unilaterally,” party spokesperson Ambati Rambabu told reporters here on Friday.

TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu was in touch with Delhi all through and after the decision was announced he comes up with the theory of the new capital and its cost while the enraged TDP leaders of Seemandhra region announce their resignations.

Same is the case with Seemandhra Congress leaders who suddenly wake up for the cause and put in papers demanding an integrated state. When Digvijay Singh gave a blunt hint that sweet news will unfold for the people of Telangana, what was the maturity the leaders of Congress and TDP had shown, he said.

Leaders of both the parties are enacting resignation drama only to hijack the movement which has erupted from the hearts of people of Seemandhra and it could be a total sell out if the people who are leading the movement yield to their theatrics, he said.

Leaders of these two parties were silent when the process of division was going on while YSRCP has written to the Home Minister that the interests of all regions should be taken into consideration before taking any decision on the issue of bifurcation.

The Centre paid no heed to our letter and when one region is on the boil, Congress and TDP leaders started their old game of playing to the gallery by offering resignations.

Delhi on the other hand has gone a step forward and State in-charge of Congress Party Digvijay Singh has been advocating about the resources of the Seemandhra region and suggesting places in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema for a suitable capital bringing the divide and rule game into full play.

Congress has betrayed the people of Seemandhra while TDP has become a spent force and the two parties are directly responsible for the division of the state without taking proper measures to provide justice to all stake holders.

“Our Party stand has been the same. Under Article 3, the Centre has full powers to restructure any state or its boundaries. But before taking such a decision, we said, justice should be done to all regions and no part of the state should be put to any disadvantage or turmoil,” he said.

Our Party came into existence two years back and we were not there when Sri Krishna Committee toured the state and were not a party to its report. We only spoke on behalf of people of the state and are of the opinion that if a split cannot be avoided, there should be a general agreement among the parties concerned and they should part like brothers.

Instead the Congress has treated the issue in a very unilateral and dictatorial manner sparking protests from people of one region. Both Congress and TDP should take responsibility for the consequences as they are responsible for unrest that erupted following the division,” he said. INN

The ministers from Seemandhra region on Wednesday held a marathon meeting with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to discuss the future course of action in view of Congress Working Committee’s decision to grant statehood to Telangana region. According to sources, a majority of ministers wanted the mass resignations strategy to be adopted to pressurise the High Command. However, a few senior ministers were in favour of stalling the process of Telangana formation through different means.

With just a few months left for the General Elections, some Seemandhra ministers were of the view that they should delay or drag the process at every stage to ensure that the Telangana Bill does not get introduces in the 15th Lok Sabha, whose term expires on May 31, 2014. Since Congress High Command is completely in favour of Telangana and it has made its opinion public, the ministers felt that it would not reverse its decision immediately fearing political repercussions. However, by delaying the process, the Telangana issue could be dragged to the next government.

The Seemandhra ministers will meet the Chief Minister again at 7 PM on Thursday to take a final decision.

Meanwhile, the elected representatives from the Andhra and Rayalaseema region have conducted a meeting at 12 noon on Thursday at MLAs’ Quarters to discuss future course of action. Based on their decision, the Seemandhra ministers, along with the Chief Minister, will finalise the next strategy.

The decision to give en-masse resignation was reportedly taken in the meeting of Seemandhra MPs held at union minister Pallam Raju’s residence here late Tuesday night. Union Minister Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, JD Seelam, KVP Ramchandra Rao, Lagadapati Rajagopal and K Bapiraju were among the MPs who attended the meeting. According to sources, the MPs, in principle, have decided to put in their papers if the party High Command refuses to defer the decision Telangana.

The MPs will meet again on Tuesday morning at the residence of K Bapiraju to take the final decision. A few MPs were of the opinion that their continuance with the Congress party was meaningless if they could not convince the High Command against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Therefore, they are now planning to topple the UPA Government if it decides in favour of Telangana.

After the DMK pulled out of the UPA in March this year, its strength was reduced to 242 from 260. However, with the outside support of SP (22), BSP (21) and RJD (4) the Congress-led coalition had more strength than the magic number of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha. The Seemandhra MPs are now planning to use the same equations in their favour to halt Telangana. Congress has 19 members from Andhra and Rayalaseema region. If other six members from the region support them and Samajwadi Party, which is against Telangana, extends a helping hand, then the survival of UPA-Government at the Centre would be difficult.

Although it would be premature to predict that the Seemandhra MPs would go to the extent of toppling the Congress-led Government, some MPs gave clear indications that they might go any extent to prevent division of Andhra Pradesh.

According to sources, these additional forces would be deployed in the Rayalaseema and Andhra regions where protests are likely to take place if the Centre decides in favour of Telangana formation. These forces would be in addition to 1,200 paramilitary personnel who are already deployed in the two regions. Besides, the Centre has also asked 200 personnel of Karnataka Armed Police and 100 personnel of Tamil Nadu Armed Police stationed in Hyderabad to assist the State police in maintaining the law and order.

It may be mentioned that Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Home Secretary Anil Goswami held a meeting last week with DGP V Dinesh Reddy and Chief Secretary Dr PK Mohanty on the law and order situation in the State and the requirement of forces in view of Telangana decision.

اتر پردیش کانگریس کے سابق سربراہ ریتا بہوگنا جوشی نے کہا کہ پارٹی صدر نے پارٹی ترجمان اور پینل کے اراکین کے اجلاس کا آغاز کرتے ہوئے یہ بات کہی. یہ کانفرنس ایسے وقت منعقد ہو رہی ہے جب لوک سبھا انتخابات کے لئے ایک سال سے بھی کم وقت بچا ہے

راہل گاندھی کا یہ انتباہ ایسے وقت میں آیا ہے جب کہ کانگریس نے پارٹی کے سیکریٹری جنرل شکیل احمد اور پارٹی کے رہنما رشید مسعود کے اس بیان کو نامنظور کر دیا ہے، جس میں انہوں نے کہا تھا کہ 2002 گجرات فسادات کی وجہ سے دہشت گرد تنظیم انڈین مجاہدین کا قیام ہوا

کانگریس جنرل سکریٹری دگ وجے سنگھ، مرکزی وزیر بینی پرساد ورما اور جے رام رمیش کو متنازعہ بیان دینے پر پارٹی قیادت کئی بار ٹوک چکی ہے. راہل گاندھی یہ بھی چاہتے ہیں کہ پارٹی کارکن اور لیڈر اپنی زبان میں کافی شائستگی برتیں

According to sources, citing lack of consensus, the Congress High Command might delay the decision, which was earlier expected to be taken during Congress Core Committee meeting scheduled on July 12. “There is no change in stand by any leader. While Telangana leaders want a separate State, the leaders of Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, are against the division,” a senior Congress leader involved in the process of preparing the road-map for Telangana told this website.

PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana has collected the views of MPs and ministers while camping in the national capital since three days. However, sources say that the opinions expressed before the PCC president and Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy were divided. Following lack of consensus, the Congress leadership might not announce any decision on the Telangana although the Core Committee might discuss the issue.

Another leader pointed out that the Telangana Sadhana Sabha held on May 30 in Hyderabad was aimed at preventing the exodus of leaders to Telangana Rashtra Samithi. The Congress leadership was worried that more MPs and MLAs would follow senior leader K Keshava Rao, MPs G Vivek and Manda Jagannatham to the TRS. The Telangana Sadhana Sabha meeting was perfectly planned and it coincided with the visit of AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh to Visakhapatnam. The next day, he came to Hyderabad and held discussions on the issue. This was again followed by a series of meetings and visit of senior leaders to the national capital.

Sources said that the report submitted by Digvijay Singh to Congress president Sonia Gandhi contained no specific recommendation on formation of Telangana. He only presented an overall view of the existing scenario in the State. The Congress party is now planning to drag the issue till the end of August although it might take measures to maintain the present momentum.