New Delhi: The Telangana statehood demand is
hotting up yet again with Congress ministers and MPs from the
region camping here to build up pressure on the party High
Command to immediately announce the formation of a separate
state.
Several lawmakers from the region arrived here today to
hold a series of meetings with Central leaders, especially
with General Secretary in-charge of the state Ghulam Nabi Azad
and many more are likely to join them on Tuesday.
Senior minister K Jana Reddy, Ponnala Laxmaiah and G
Damodar Reddy and MPs Balram Naik and G Vivekanand are here
and are understood to have sought appointments with Azad and
other leaders to apprise them of the situation in the region.
Normal life in Telangana has been hit for the past 12
days due to the agitation for a separate state.
The lawmakers said they will categorically tell the High
Command that there should be "no delay" in announcing the
formation of a separate Telangana state.
"If the Centre fails now, it will be the end. The
situation is very tense in Telangana and this is the right
moment to announce the state formation," a senior leader said.
The leaders have been demanding that the Centre not take
more time in deciding on the issue.
Meanwhile, Congress said Azad will look into critical
comments made by senior MP K Keshav Rao against Home Minister
P Chidambaram on the Telangana issue.
"The General Secretary in-charge will look into the
matter and take an appropriate decision," party spokesman
Rashid Alvi said at the AICC briefing.
Rao had yesterday targeted Chidambaram asking him to get
his "facts right" on the Congress stand on the contentious
statehood demand.
He was referring to the Home Minister's speech in
Parliament recently that the Congress has not taken a stand on
the Telangana issue.
On the Telangana issue, Alvi said an "appropriate
decision" would be taken at an "appropriate time."
PTI
First Published: Monday, September 26, 2011, 23:20