New Delhi: Amid continuing protests over the creation of a separate Telangana state, Union Ministers from the Seemandhra region on Tuesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi here and expressed the "sense of deprivation" prevailing in Andhra and Rayalseema regions.
During the meeting, Gandhi told them that a committee of three senior leaders will be formed, which will look into their grievances, as the ministers told her about apprehensions among people in their constituencies.
During their meeting with the Congress president, the ministers, including MM Pallam Raju, KS Rao, K Chiranjeevi, JD Seelam, Panabaka Lakshmi, D Purandheswari and Kruparani Killi, are learnt to have raised the demand that Hyderabad should be retained as permanent common capital of two Telugu- speaking states on the line of Chandigarh.
Two other Union Ministers from the region, KC Deo and Kotla Jayasurya Prakasha Reddy, were not part of the delegation.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Chiranjeevi said Gandhi assured them that the grievances of the people from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions will be taken care of.
"What we said that you have to take care of the interest of both. It should not be that you have taken care of only Telangana. Among Andhraites, there are a lot of apprehensions. And those people, who are having their interest, their future, their life and everybody`s life in Hyderabad and surroundings. You have to protect their interests," Chiranjeevi said.
Asked whether they are demanding that Hyderabad be made a common capital of Telangana and Seemandhra on the line of Chandigarh, he said "that`s what we are insisting on or a model like Delhi. It has to be there. The Lieutenant Governor should take care of it. These are the things we are discussing."
He said the party is setting up a three-member committee to look into these grievances, which will be announced by AICC general secretary in-charge for Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh.
PTI
