Hyderabad, February 13: The Justice BN Srikrishna Committee’s terms of reference have left the Congress a houses divided.
Some legislators have decided to go along with the party line while others are opposed to the terms. Eleven MLAs, nine MLCs and one MP (Manda Jagannadham) went into a huddle after the Delhi announcement but felt the need to meet again tomorrow as many legislators were away in their native districts for Maha Shivaratri.
Today’s discussions were on whether the terms were inimical to the Telangana cause and, if so, what should be the future course of action.
Many MLAs reportedly pointed out that unless they resigned and created a constitutional crisis, the Centre might not create a separate State. It is not clear whether the legislators would be attending the Joint Action Committee meeting slated for tomorrow.
The official response coming from PCC president D Srinivas was that the terms of reference “boded well’’ for the creation of Telangana. He said he had “looked at the terms with an open and positive mind’’ and in his view the committee appeared to be a genuine attempt on the part of the Centre to create a separate State.
The PCC president has already conveyed to the MLAs that their “duty was to go by party diktat and cause no embarrassment to the leadership, whether in word or deed.’’ Thus psychologically conditioned, some have welcomed the terms since not doing so could cause the downfall of their own government.
For instance, one of the important figures from amongst the Telangana Congress MLAs, former home minister K Jana Reddy, welcomed the terms of reference and said Telagnana State was already in sight and that he was in the race to become its chief minister.
On the other hand, many of those opposing the terms were not coming out openly for fear of action from the party leadership but were spreading the word that they would organise resignations of the MLAs. To what extent they will succeed in their attempt is anybody’s guess since the party has said it would take a hard line against dissent.
Against this background, supporters of former minister R Damodar Reddy claim that the MLAs were keen on resigning as they say they had come to the conclusion that unless a constitutional crisis was forced on the State, Telangana will remain a pipedream, which is precisely what the Telugu Desam has been consistently saying.
However, other sources have it that a majority of Telangana ministers in K Rosaiah’s cabinet appear to have found “nothing objectionable’’ in the terms of reference. IT Minister K Venkata Reddy said he welcomed the terms while Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy said these would pave the way for the creation of a separate State. “I have faith in Sonia Gandhi. Under her leadership, we will get Telangana,’’ she said at Tirupati.
Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabahakr said he neither opposed the terms nor welcomed them but Nizamabad MP Madhu Yashki and CWC member G Venkata Swamy said they were opposing the terms since it appears the committee’s sole purpose appeared to be something other than creation of a separate State.
–Agencies–