Hyderabad, February 24: 15 out of 16 ministers from Telangana region writes a letter to the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and other members of the Congress core committee, asking them to give priority to granting Telangana state.
The letter, drafted, approved and signed by 15 ministers from Telangana, is being sent to all key persons in the Congress high command, on Wednesday. The lone dissenting voice was that of marketing minister, Mr M. Mukesh Goud, who refused to attend the meeting or sign the letter. He told his colleagues that he stuck to his stand on a separate status for Greater Hyderabad Metropolitan Area if the state is divided.
“The people of Hyderabad have a lot of expectations from me, since I have committed myself to special status for the Greater Hyderabad Metropolitan Area. I cannot change my stand or ditch the people, so I refused to sign the letter,” he said.
Shortly after the state Cabinet meeting formally concluded on Wednesday morning after approving the Budget proposals, T-ministers met separately at the chambers of the panchayati raj minister, Mr K. Janareddy, in the Assembly, where they drafted a letter on Telangana statehood. The letter requested the Congress central leaders to give the ministers an opportunity to present their arguments at length.
In the two-and-a-half page letter, the ministers urged both the Congress and the Centre to stick to the announcement of a separate Telangana state, made on December 9, 2009. They even issued a veiled threat, that if the T-issue is not addressed on a priority basis, there could be a major law and order problem in the region.
–Source: Flashnewstoday