Hyderabad, July 05: If the Congress announces its stand on Telangana, following the resignation of its legislators and MP, the Telugu Desam will be forced to fall in line, it is felt. Eyebrows were raised when 33 TD MLAs resigned on Monday much before the Congress legislators. Sources said the party president, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, gave a green signal to the Errabelli Dayakar Rao-led Telangana TD Forum to submit resignations ahead of the Congress.
Explaining this, a Congress MP reasoned, “At no point of time should the government fall into a minority after the Congress legislators numbering 41 resigned from their seats. This would be advantageous to Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy’s gameplan of dethroning the government. In order to save the government, Mr Naidu asked TD members to resign to ensure that the ruling group remains in a majority.” In case the Congress members backtrack on the resignations, the TD cannot face bypolls on its own unless it announces its own stand on Telangana. It will have to follow the Congress line, be it pro or anti-Telangana, the MP felt.
As far as accepting the resignations is concerned, the presiding officers may take time by ascertaining the views of members individually before taking a decision. This means there will be some time left for the Congress leadership to continue its dialogue with the legislators. It is pertinent to note that the senior minister, Mr K. Jana Reddy, and others who talked to the media stated that they are not against the party’s interests but that they were taking the step for Telangana statehood.