The Congress leaders from Rayalaseema, having lost all hopes about the state remaining united, now stepped up the demand for carving out a Rayala-Telangana State, if the central government goes ahead to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.
The Rayalaseema Congress leaders till recently pinned their hopes on the Union Ministers from Seemandhra region and also on Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy to prevail upon the central leaders to stop the bifurcation process. However, all their hopes seemed to have been fallen flat after the Group of Ministers (GoM) had their final round of consultations on Monday.
The lack OF unity among the Seemandhra Union Ministers came into the open with each of the nine ministers coming with their own agenda to be put forth before the GoM after having come to the conclusion that it would be foolhardy to expect the Congress High Command to reverse its decision to bifurcate the state. Thus some of the ministers submitted separate reports with their own demands to safeguard their political interests.
Though the Chief Minister had presented a forceful argument before the GoM to keep the state united, he also seems to have become a lone ranger in fighting for the cause of a united state. As a matter of fact the members of the GoM like Veerappa Moily and Jairam Ramesh made it amply clear to the Chief Minister that there was no question of going against the decision of party President Sonia Gandhi and CWC to bifurcate the state.
Against this back drop, the Rayalaseema Congress leaders, who are not prepared to play second fiddle to the leaders belonging to a dominant community in the residuary Andhra state, preferred to identify themselves with the Telangana region. Hence the demand for merging Kurnool and Ananthapur districts with the 10 districts of Telangana to carve out a Rayala-Telangana State.
Since the GoM is expected to finalize its report for submitting to the Union Cabinet scheduled to meet on November 21, the Congress leaders from Rayalaseema region decided to bring pressure on the High Command in this regard. These leaders met at the residence of MP Saipratap and discussed their plan of action in this regard.
The lone union minister from the region, Kotla Suryapraksh Reddy had sought an appointment with Sonia Gandhi and is expected to meet her on Wednesday. Consequently the meeting of the Rayala Congress leaders was held today which was attended by Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy, MPs, Sai Pratap and A Anantha Venkatram Reddy, State Ministers N. Raghuveera reddy, T.G. Venkatesh and Erasu Pratap Reddy.
The consensus at the meeting was to impress upon the High Command the imperative need to carve out a separate Rayala-Telangana State instead of just a Telangana State. To justify and give a boost to their demand, these leaders are expected to remind the High command that even MIM had supported such a state. (NSS).