Hyderabad, Deceber 13: With the crisis in AP showing no signs of ebbing, the Congress top brass is gearing up itself to weather the storm even as the back channels are trying to work out a rapprochement between the two warring sides, at least within the Congress fold.
In an attempt to bring the temperature down, Congress Rajya Sabha MP from the State K Keshav Rao – one of the original Telangana agitators – was fielded to offer an olive branch to the other side. He appealed to the MPs/MLAs of Andhra-Rayalaseema region to talk to the Congress high command instead of going on fast.
‘‘The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, is willing to talk to anyone and democratically resolve the crisis,’’ he said to contain the crisis that was embarrassing the party no end.
Admitting that the situation was indeed critical, Rao claimed that what were being seen as two states are now becoming two people. ‘‘Those who are fuelling this divide must keep in mind that it is not just one country and a shared society, but the language spoken in both parts is the same,’’ he added.
The Andhra-Rayalaseema bloc is adamant that the Centre issue a concrete assurance that it will take no step to carve out a separate Telangana State bypassing the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. Constitutionally, the proposed Andhra Pradesh Assembly resolution, which sparked off the crisis in the first place, is not a mandatory step for creation of a separate State.
The Andhra MPs stationed in New Delhi claimed that they were hoping for a breakthrough despite the fact that one of their flock, L Rajagopal, has threatened a counter fast to stall any forward movement of the Telangana resolution.
On the other hand, another MP, KS Rao said all the Andhra MPs were ready to sit for talks on the issue.
To defuse the situation, Finance Minister and veteran Congress leader Pranab
Mukherjee spoke to YS Jaganmohan Reddy to bring around the protesting
MLAs and MPs. He is also expected to hold more informal talks with the protesting group and Jagan as well.
Sources in the Congress said, the reason why Mukherjee was assigned the tricky task was because he was seen as someone who would not rush into dividing the State and who has been associated with the Telangana issue for the last 40 years. But realising that non-cooperation from Andhra-Rayalaseema region will queer the path, the Telangana MPs appealed to the other side to see sense.
Though privately, they accused the opposite camp of protesting only to protect
their investments in Hyderabad and the caste-clout in the region.
Ideally, the Congress high command too would have preferred to push through the Telangana for political-electoral reasons.
But as a Congress leader admitted, the internal politics of the party has become a stumbling block.
–Agencies