Hyderabad: Senior Congress and TRS leaders
held a marathon five-hour meeting at the residence of Andhra
Pradesh Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy here on Wednesday night to
assess the current situation in the wake of deployment of
large-scale security forces in Telangana hotspots.
Though the leaders maintained that they discussed ways to
build pressure on the Central government for conceding the
statehood demand, Congress sources said they deliberated on
the possible fallout of the deployment of security forces and
the likely course the Telangana struggle would take from now
on.
The Congress leaders refused to quit their posts
immediately as demanded by TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao
and told him that they would take a call only after discussing
the issue with their top leadership.
"We will discuss the issue with our top leaders again and
take the next step," Minister Jana Reddy and Rajya Sabha
member K Keshav Rao told reporters.
The meeting started between Jana Reddy and KCR, along
with TRS MLAs E Rajender and T Harish Rao, but later Congress
MPs G Vivekananda and Gutta Sukhender Reddy too joined. Keshav
Rao too came at a later stage.
"KCR (Chandrasekhar Rao) wanted the Congress Ministers,
MPs, MLCs and MLAs from the region to resign from their posts
immediately as the deadline set by the so-called Joint Action
Committee ended on June 25. But the Congress leaders said they
gave time till July 1 for the party high command to take a
decision on the statehood issue," a leader present at the
meeting said.
Chandrasekhar Rao said they would meet once again in the
next three-four days and take a decision on the future course
of action.
The Congress and the TRS were, however, unanimous in
their opinion that "there is no alternative to Telangana."
PTI
