Hyderabad: The Telangana Sadhana Sabha organised by T-Congress leaders on Sunday passed a resolution requesting the party’s central leadership to announce a separate state without any delay. The resolution was proposed by IT minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah at a well-attended public meeting at the Nizam College Grounds.
Former AP Congress president D. Srinivas and former minister Shabbir Ali, both MLCs, who have close contacts with the party’s leadership, said in their speeches that the high command will announce a separate Telangana state shortly.
Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha, Union ministers Sarve Satyanarayana, Balaram Naik, and ministers K. Jana Reddy and Geetha Reddy also expressed the same hope.
Posts can be sacrificed for Telangana: Jana
Panchayat raj minister K. Jana Reddy, who presided over the Telangana Sadhana Sabha organised by T-Congress leaders on Sunday, said, “Everyone is talking about our posts and sacrifices. Some leaders are asking that after this meeting, if the high command won’t react positively, what will you do?
We will go to the high command and tell AICC president Sonia Gandhi that we don’t want the posts. And we won’t ask for party tickets in the next elections, give tickets to whoever you want. We won’t leave the party. We will be in the party and fight for Telangana state. We are ready to sacrifice anything.”
Meanwhile, an activist from the Telangana Azad Force showed a slipper at Jana Reddy when he was speaking. Police rushed to the spot and took him away. Another protester threw a slipper towards the dais, but it fell in the press gallery.
All the Telangana state ministers except Danam Nagendar, M. Mukesh and R. Venkat Reddy, attended the meeting. Srinivas said that people know that Telangana would not be possible through other parties; it is only possible through the Congress party.
“Telugu people are going to have two states very soon. In the next two years, the two states will become number one and two in the country in development,” he declared. Srinivas said that Hyderabad will be the capital of Telangana.
Raja Narasimha said that Telangana “packages” are not acceptable. “We are fighting for self-respect and existence. In the last 56 years Seemandhra chief ministers have ruled the state for 44 years and Telangana chief ministers ruled for only 12 years. Is this equality?” he questioned. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Telugu Desam have cheated the Telangana people.
Rajya Sabha member and former PCC president V. Hanumantha Rao said that the high command will announce a separate state soon, and Telangana youth must not attempt suicide in the cause.Minister D. Sridhar Babu, in his welcome, address said that this meeting was not being held for election purposes as some opposition leaders have alleged. He said the high command will recognise the sentiments of the Telangana people and will announce a separate state very soon.
Naik, Satyanarayana, Prabhakar and Gutta Sukhendar Reddy, MLA Komatireddy Venkata Reddy and several state ministers, including former home minister Sabita Indra Reddy also spoke during the meeting.