Telangana forum claims 4 MLAs quit, three deny

Fissures appear to have developed among Congress MLAs hailing from Telangana with the Congress Forum for Telangana (CFT) announcing the resi...

Fissures appear to have developed among Congress MLAs hailing from Telangana with the Congress Forum for Telangana (CFT) announcing the resignation of four more MLAs but three of them hastened to deny it. In a bid to step up pressure on the party high command for formation of a separate PCC for Telangana, CFT president G. Chinna Reddy announced at a press conference this morning that four more MLAs from the region sent in their resignations to party president Sonia Gandhi.

The four, according to Chinna Reddy, were: V.Purushotham Reddy (representing Ramannapet in Nalgonda district), G.Gurunath Reddy (Kodangal – Mahboobnagar district), J.Krishna Rao (Kolhapur-Mahboobnagar) and P.Veeriah (Mulug-Warangal). But three legislators barring Gurunath Reddy denied having submitted their resignation to Sonia Gandhi saying they were yet to take any decision. Gurunath Reddy is away on a tour of Rajasthan.

The MLAs are of the view that a meeting of the party legislators from the region should be convened and the issue discussed threadbare instead of announcing resignations in batches. Chinna Reddy, along with Indrakaran Reddy, B.Sariah and P.Govardhan Reddy, had sent in resignation letters on August 9, just a day after the Congress leadership announced D.Srinivas as the new PCC president.

Story continues below this ad

Reddy said that they would withdraw their resignations if a separate PCC for Telangana was formed or at least if the AICC adopted a resolution supporting the demand for statehood. Chinna Reddy said the CFT would convene a meeting of MLAs from the region on August 17 to convince those who stayed away from the forum to join hands and put up a united struggle.

Newly-appointed APCC chief D.Srinivas met Sonia in Delhi this evening. He is said to have requested her that the hands of the PCC be strengthened to deal with the crisis.

Srinivas said that he has ‘‘no role to play in the resolution of the issue’’. ‘‘The party high command is seized of the issue and the PCC has no role to play in the matter,’’ he said. Stressing that he was the ‘‘PCC chief for the entire state, including Telangana,’’ Srinivas said: ‘‘When the PCC chief is from Telangana, what is the need for a separate committee.’’

On whether he would consider the resignations as a revolt, he said: ‘‘These MLAs are very disciplined Congressmen and they have reiterated that Sonia Gandhi is their leader and there is no question of leaving the Congress.’’ ‘‘As partymen, they have all the right to express their view to the party president.’’ He has been in touch with the MLAs and said the legislators were also in touch with senior party leaders.

Story continues below this ad

Unconfirmed reports also said the four MLAs who quit today had withdrawn their resignations. It is also believed that the present trouble is being created by a section opposed to Congress Legislative Party chief Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy, with whom Srinivas is associated. Sources said the matter is being handled by Ahmed Patel, who was in touch with some of these MLAs.