Ministers of the Telangana region met President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday, the last day of his southern sojourn in Hyderabad and appealed to him to use his good offices to expedite the Telangana statehood issue at the earliest.
Sabita Indra Reddy, Sunita Lakshma Reddy, Baswaraju Saraiah, J. Geeta Reddy, Sudarshan Reddy and Sridhar Babu were among those who met the President.
Extending New Year greetings, they told the President about the aspirations of the people of the region and asked him to use his special powers and take initiative. Stating that whenever ‘T’ State was created, it would be the New Year for them, the ministers asked Pranab to see that their dream would come true at least this new year, as he had full understanding of the problem.
Talking to the media later, they said there was no ambiguity on the matter as all the political parties had expressed their views in the all-party meeting. They said now it was for the government to take a decision. They also expressed confidence that Congress would sweep elections in both the regions if a positive decision was taken on Telangana. They said the President had given a patient hearing and responded positively. They said the President told them that he was aware of the problem. They hoped that there would be a positive decision soon on the matter soon. They also said that Pranab mentioned about the Delhi gang-rape incident and asked them to provide greater security for women. (NSS)