Bypolls revive Telangana issue
As expected, the result of the recent bypolls has revived the Telangana statehood issue. A section of the Congress and the Telugu Desam leaders from the Telangana region are planning to float a new front in order to save face.
Sources close to these politicians say the latter cannot wait any longer for the government to announce a separate state. “We cannot wait any more; we have to save our skins first, so we may have a joint front soon in order to prove our commitment to the cause,” one of them was quoted as saying.
Several Congress MLAs and MPs from the Telangana region have decided to visit Delhi this month to force a decision on Telangana. Mr Gutta Sukhender Reddy, Congress MP from Nalgonda, told this correspondent on Sunday: “We will go to Delhi and meet the high command to bring pressure on them to announce Telangana state. They should realise now after the bypoll result in Parkal, where the Congress was wiped out, that this is necessary.” Parkal, the lone seat in the polls from the Telangana region was won by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi that has been spearheading the Telangana movement. “All these days we have been specifically asked to exercise restraint in view of the party’s prospects in the bypolls. Now that is over, we cannot wait any further. Telangana people cannot tolerate any more,” Mr Gutta Reddy said. The Congress plan was to make any changes in Andhra Pradesh, including the chief ministership and Telangana, after the elections of the President and vice-president of the country in July end, so it would come like a package.
But the Telangana Congress leaders who have reviewed the situation recently have come to the conclusion that the YSR Congress, which has swept the bypolls in other regions, could create waves in the Telangana region too, despite its ambiguous stand on Telangana.
The only way to save the party in the 2014 general elections, the Telangana Congress leaders believe, is for the central leadership to concede statehood for Telangana, and if it does not, “we know how to save ourselves from facing humiliation” a source said.
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