Will follow Sonia’s decision on Telangana: Andhra Congress

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The newly-appointed president of the Congress’s Andhra Pradesh unit Botsa Satyanarayana on Saturday said the party would abide by the decision of party chief Sonia Gandhi on the demand for a separate Telangana state.

Addressing a meeting after taking over as the new party chief in the state, Satyanarayana clarified that he had no personal opinion on any issue. “I don’t have a personal opinion. The leadership will take a decision in the interest of 8 crores people of the state and we all will abide by it,” he said. Satyanarayana, who is also a Cabinet minister in the state and hails from north coastal Andhra, once said that there was nothing wrong in the demand for a separate Telangana state.

Pro-Telangana leaders in the ruling party welcomed Satyanarayana’s appointment and said it was a positive indication by the leadership on the Telangana issue. Satyanarayana and chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, who comes from Rayalaseema region, denied that there were any differences between them. Both the leaders vowed to work together with the common goal of bringing the party back to power in 2014 elections. The chief minister said their aim was to ensure that the Congress wins 40 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats from the state in 2014 to make party general secretary Rahul Gandhi the next Prime Minister.

Without naming any loyalist of YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Kiran Kumar said those criticising Sonia Gandhi had no right to remain in the party. Both the leaders stressed the need for unity and greater coordination between the party and the government. Satyanarayana said the party should work as eyes and ears of the government and assured the cadre that he would chalk out an action plan to ensure this. He earlier arrived at Gandhi Bhavan, the party headquarters, in a huge procession.

Hundreds of party workers attended the procession as they danced and burst crackers on the roads, bringing the traffic to a halt in many busy areas of the city. According to party workers, for the first time after the death of then chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash in 2009, the Congress witnessed so much enthusiasm. Leaders cutting across regions came together to greet Satyanarayana. They included Damodar Rajanarasimha, who was appointed deputy chief minister on Friday, central ministers S. Jaipal Reddy, Pannabaka Lakshmi, M.M. Pallam Raju, former chief ministers N. Janardhan Reddy, K. Rosaiah and senior leaders like M. Satyanarayana Rao, D. Srinivas and K. Keshava Rao.