Hyderabad, December 09: Caught on a sticky wicket over the Telangana issue, the Congress went into firefighting mode on Tuesday by holding talks with the 12 party MPs from the region. Meanwhile, the condition of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader K Chandrasekhara Rao, who has been on a fast for 10 days, has become critical.
The issue of separate statehood for Telangana has become a political hot potato for the Congress with college campuses turning into hotbeds of the movement.
The Telangana MPs met Union law minister M Veerappa Moily and party chief Sonia Gandhi’s political advisor Ahmed Patel in Delhi and are believed to have sought immediate statehood. Party MPs from the rest of Andhra Pradesh, including YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, too, met Moily.
The MPs were asked not to speak to the media as differing views could “spoil the weather for the party”, which is finalising its official line. The deteriorating health of the TRS chief is likely to complicate matters for the party. Rao was arrested on November 29 before launching a fast-unto-death. Doctors at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, where Rao is admitted, say the diabetic cannot be kept on support systems.
–Agencies–