New Delhi, January 12: The Congress, under pressure from rebel MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy and pro-Telangana leaders within the party, air dashed the party’s Andhra Pradesh in-charge Veerappa Moily and health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to Hyderabad on Tuesday.
The Congress saw the danger it faced in Andhra as 24 party MLAs exhibited their loyalty to Jagan by joining him in his day-long jal deeksha (fast), against the Krishna water tribunal order, in Delhi on Tuesday.
“I am doing a favour to the Congress by asking my people in the party not to resign. In fact, my people [Congress MLAs] too are doing a favour to the party by not taking a decision to resign. It’s only because of this that the Congress is in power in the state,” Jagan said.
Responding to Jagan’s comments, senior Congress minister DL Ravindra Reddy threatened the former MP’s loyalists to resign immediately and contest in bypolls.
At least five pro-Jagan Congress MLAs accepted the challenge and the issue is likely to be discussed once the MLAs return to Hyderabad from Delhi.
Meanwhile, 40 party members from Telangana held a meeting on Tuesday to decide the future action. “We will tender our resignations in case the high command fails to take a positive decision on creation of Telangana,” Madhu Yaski Goud, a Congress MP, said.
Goud alleged that the Srikrishna committee report had several inaccuracies. He went a step further and said some of the committee members accepted favours from leaders from Andhra and Rayalaseema.
Moily held a detailed meeting with chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy to assess the situation in the state. “The high command is extremely serious and confused. No one knows when the state will go in for mid-term polls. It feels it was fed with misinformation on the ground situation and was misguided by people handling the state,” a source said.
“Telangana forces within the party and outside are setting a deadline for a decision on the statehood. In case, the government fails to introduce a bill in favour of Telangana in the budget session, the situation is likely to go out of hands for the Congress,” the source said.
—Agencies