Hyderabad, April 02: Congress leaders from Telangana are gearing up to hold a broad-based meeting on Sunday to chalk out the further course of action on the statehood issue.
Congress Action Committee for Telanagana (CAFT) has sent invitations to party MPs, Ministers, MLAs, MLCs and party seniors to attend the crucial meeting to discuss the contents of chapter 8 of the Justice Srikrishna Committee and deliberate on the outcome of the meeting, which the leaders had with the AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad in March.
Serious view
CAFT member and MLC K. Yadava Reddy told reporters here that the meeting to be held at Exhibition Grounds in Nampally would be attended by a majority of party representatives. He said Telangana Congress leaders had taken a serious view of the contents of chapter 8 of the Srikrishna Committee report.
He said there were no second thoughts about the Congress leaders’ commitment to the statehood issue. The leaders were maintaining a silence till the Assembly elections to five States were completed, he said.
Meanwhile, on Thursday night, a meeting at the residence of Rajya Sabha member K. Keshava Rao saw Telangana Congress leaders reiterate their commitment to continue their efforts for achieving statehood for the region.
Neglect alleged
Congress leaders lamented that ever since Praja Rajyam chief K. Chiranjeevi announced the merger of his party with the Congress, the central leadership was neglecting them.
A Congress MP reportedly said they would not hesitate to quit their Lok Sabha membership if the Centre failed to expedite the process for the creation of separate Telangana.
Resignation issue
Sources said some leaders wanted the Union Petroleum Minister, S.Jaipal Reddy, Mr. Keshava Rao and Panchayat Raj Minister K. Jana Reddy to resign and build pressure on the Centre to grant statehood to Telangana.
–Agencies