Cong MPs to take up Telangana issue with Sonia

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Stating that party president Sonia Gandhi was their 'last hope' to resolve the Telangana issue, Congress MPs from the region on Monday decided to seek her intervention and also raise their demand in the winter session of Parliament.

The MPs met here on Monday in the wake of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent comments that he would favour a consensus on the issue of statehood for Telangana.

"We will immediately take up this issue with our president Sonia Gandhi, our last hope. Many times she has changed decisions taken by the UPA government...whether it is Food Security Bill, NREGA, Right to Information Act etc. Many times, at her insistence, the UPA government changed its views," Congress MP Madhu Yashki Goud told reporters here after a meeting of Telangana Congress MPs.

"It is the only state left in south India where Congress is in power on its own. We will tell her that it is our party's commitment and government's commitment to create a separate state. We understand their difficulties in creating a separate state. But those difficulties can be overcome by deciding in favour of separate state," he said adding the Telangana people are feeling betrayed over the statement of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said last week that "Telangana is a complicated matter and we are trying to evolve a consensus where all shades of public opinion would agree that what is being done is in interest of each and everyone. We cannot solve the problem by agreeing to Telangana while there is disquiet and unrest in other regions of Andhra Pradesh."

Noting that the MPs would not insist with the Lok Sabha Speaker to accept their resignations submitted earlier, Goud said they would attend the winter session of Parliament to raise the demand for separate Telangana.

Asked about reports that some Congress MPs may quit the party and join TRS, Goud said the party leaders in Telangana are concerned over formation of a separate state and their own political future.

"Three Congress MLAs quit the party and joined TRS. This had never happened. This is creating a real concern among the Congress MPs and MLAs about their future. There is a thinking that it is only TRS which people are trusting and if we don't join that party, the dream of separate state may not be achieved. Some of the MPs are planning, this is the news coming up," Madhu Yashki Goud said.

He said efforts are being made to hold back Congress leaders and not let them quit the party in the event of an unfavourable decision on the statehood demand.

"Today we had a meeting. We still have hope in Sonia Gandhiji. We hope she will intervene and prevail on the government to take a decision in favour of Telangana. If not, we will try to hold back many of our colleagues... from leaving the party," he said.