5 Congress MPs to quit, have T party

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A few Telangana Congress Lok Sabha members have reportedly decided to quit both the party and their memberships for the cause of Telangana. Sources say that the MPs are planning to join either the Telangana Rashtra Samiti or float a Telangana Congress party. They will, however, give a deadline to the Congress Central leadership to grant a Telangana state, failing which they will quit the party and their posts. Sources added that after the recent bypoll debacle of the Congress in the Telangana region, party Lok Sabha members G. Vivekanand (Pedapalli), Ponnam Prabhakar (Karimnagar), Manda Jagannadham (Nagarkurnool), Gutta Sukhender Reddy (Nalgonda) and Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy (Bhongir) were thinking about quitting.

Confirming the news, a senior MP said, “We want to give some time to the party leadership to take a decision on Telangana, after that we will quit.” Apparently, a few ministers in the state Cabinet and some party Legislators approve of the MPs’ move. “The situation is very bad; people don’t believe us when we say that the Congress will bring about a Telangana state. We know too that the Central leadership is not inclined towards a Telangana state. In such a case, there is no alternative left for us,” said another MP.

Differences in party make exit decision easy
Though some Telangana Congress MPs are planning to quit both the party and their memberships for the cause of Telangana, Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar said, “I don't know about others, but I will not quit the Congress.”

Meanwhile, sources in the TRS confirmed that some Congress MPs wished to quit and join them. “They will either join us or float a new party in the name of Telangana Congress,” said a source. Besides Telangana, there are other reasons behind the MPs’ decision. Nagarkurnool MP Manda Jagannadham, for example, is caught in an internal struggle with information minister D.K. Aruna. It is an open secret that Mr Jagannadham did not campaign for party candidate Mr Vishnuvardhana Reddy in the Kollapur by-poll and supporters of Ms Aruna have now vowed to take revenge against Mr Jagan-nadham by working against him in the next elections.

A source close to Mr Jagannadham said, “The party is already weak, added to this there are major differences with the minister and the issue of Telangana is also there; he will not continue in the party for much longer.” Sources close to the MPs said that a few state Cabinet ministers and legislators would also join the exodus and consultations for the same had already begun.