Telangana Congress MPs Convenor Ponnam Prabhakar on Sunday asked the Congress party to direct Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal to restrain from making statements on Telangana statethood issue.
Addressing a press conference here, Ponnam Prabhakar said that the Telangana MPs from Congress party never interfered with the the Seemandhra politics and therefore, Lagadapati should avoid making controversial statements on Telangana. He said his statements were causing embarrassment to the Telangana Congress leaders and damaging party’s reputation among the people in the region. He asked Rajagopal to clarify as to why people voted in favour of YSR Congress party despite him giving an assurance that the Congress party would pass a resolution in the legislative assembly to keep the State united.
The Karimnagar MP said that Rajagopal instead of speaking about Telangana should instrospect as to why the Congress party lost by over two lakh votes in Nellore Lok Sabha seats. He said senior Congress leaders should clarify whether Rajagopal’s statements were individual in nature or reflect party’s official stand.
Ponnam said that if Rajagopal was not stopped from making statements on the Telangana, then the party would suffer immense damage and would not able to win even a single seat in the region in the next elections. He said since 2009, the region has witnessed 20 by-elections and the Congress was not able to win a single seat. Therefore, he said the Congress party should take a favourable stand on Telangana besides asking Rajagopal to restrain silence on the issue.
–Agencies