News Delhi, July 13 :THE resignation of nine out of 12 Congress MPs from Telangana has put tremendous pressure on Union petroleum minister S Jaipal Reddy, the lone representative of the region in the Cabinet.
There have been demands that Jaipal also should resign from the Cabinet and his MP seat to take the lead in the Telangana movement. But nothing of that sort has happened.
All these years, Jaipal has been maintaining a safe distance from the agitation, but now with his own political survival under threat, he is compelled to come out strongly in favour of the Telangana demand.
Last week, Jaipal conveyed the strong Telangana sentiment to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at a one- on- one meeting.
While explaining the situation in the region and giving his own assessment, Jaipal told the PM that he was under pressure to resign and join the movement.
“ The fact that I could not visit my Chevella constituency even twice in the last two years shows the kind of pressure I am facing. Same is the position of every Congress MP from Telangana. If the party does not take a favourable decision, it is going to face disastrous consequences in the region,” he is learnt to have told Dr Singh.
Obviously, Jaipal’s assessment has had an impact on the high command, which had hitherto been depending only on the feedback from leaders like Veerappa Moily, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel. And in the coming days, Reddy is expected to play a crucial role in the consultation process on resolving the Telangana imbroglio.