Hyderabad, February 17: The Telangana Congress MLAs and MLCs are camping in Delhi hoping against hope that they would be able to get a positive assurance from the party high command on Telangana issue.
They are likely to return to Hyderabad tomorrow evening after meeting Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. It is highly improbable that the finance minister would say anything that would comfort them.
As many as 26 MLAs and six MLCs left for Delhi on Monday, after making it clear that they would return to Hyderabad with a specific assurance from the party high command.
They, in fact, sought an appointment with party president Sonia Gandhi even before leaving for Delhi. As there was no word from Delhi, they decided to go to the national capital and pursue the appointment with party bigwigs there.
They had to wait till evening on Monday to get time with Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel who promised them that he would fix a meeting with Pranab Nukherjee, AK Antony and Veerappa Moily and told them not to insist on an appointment with Sonia Gandhi.
On Tuesday, all that they could do was meet Antony who also did not give them any assurance though they supplicated to him that if they returned to Hyderabad without any assurance, they would lose their face. But Antony reportedly remained unmoved and did not commit himself to anything.
They stayed put in Delhi today hoping that they would be able to meet Pranab Mukherjee but it did not materialise. They, however, managed to speak to Veerappa Moily who was reportedly very curt with them that they should immediately return to Hyderabad as Assembly budget session was beginning tomorrow. He reportedly told them that it was not proper for ruling party MLAs to be away from Hyderabad at a time when crucial Assembly session was scheduled to begin.
The MLAs have now decided to stay in Delhi tomorrow also and see Pranab Mukherjee. The mood among the MLAs was sullen and they were not confident of getting any assurance from him on T state. “We are waiting to meet Pranab Mukherjee,” Dubbak MLA Ch Muthyam Reddy told ENS over phone from Delhi.
The TRS and the TDP Telangana leaders have warned the Congress MLAs against returning to Hyderabad without any promise from the party high command. TRS leader Nayani Narasimha Reddy has warned that the TRS workers would receive them at Shamshabad airport with broomsticks if they did so.
–Agencies