New Delhi, January 21: As the Telangana agitators hit the road in Hyderabad once again and a student allegedly committed suicide for the cause, the separate statehood issue was back to haunt the Congress leadership in New Delhi.
To put pressure on the Central Government and the Congress party, the MPs from the region are expected to land here on Thursday. “The MLAs and MLCs are coming the following day,” sources in the party said.
The Congress tried hard to play down the issue. The party’s spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “We appeal to every section of the society in the state to maintain peace and harmony. Nothing can be gained through violence. It’s only undermining the state’s development work”.
To drive home the point, Singhvi said that the initiative being under taken by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was the only way to go forward. In other words, the Telangana leaders “must realise that the Congress high command cannot be arm-twisted into granting statehood to Telangana’’. Reiterating the commitment of Congress to create a separate state out of Andhra Pradesh, Singhvi said, “But the other regions and political parties have to agree.
Nothing can happen unless a consensus evolves, it cannot be a unilateral decision’’.
The Congress leadership is looking at the renewed agitation with suspicion.
This became apparent when Digvijay Singh, a senior Congress leader, went on air to declare that the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti has ‘no support base’.
“If there’s so much support for Telangana among the common people of the region, why did the TRS lose the Lok Sabha? Why did they not contest the corporation election of Hyderabad city,’’ Digvijay Singh asked , hinting that the student agitation taking place now was not spontaneous but is being instigated by forces who want to de-stablise the elected government in the state.
But with Congress MPs and MLAs landing in New Delhi in the next few days, the party can hardly wish away the next round of tug-of-war over Hyderabad.
–Agencies–