Telangana Congress leaders harden their stance

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HYDERABAD: With no indications emerging from Delhi that the Congress will deliver Telangana before the end of this month, Congress..

HYDERABAD: With no indications emerging from Delhi that the Congress will deliver Telangana before the end of this month, Congress leaders from the region are determined to tell the high command in no uncertain terms that their demand for separate state is nonnegotiable and that they will intensify the pressure on the party in one form or the other if it prolongs the issue.
Though leaders of the Telangana Congress Steering Committee, which met at its chairman and MP K Keshava Rao's residence here on Friday, did not reveal what their course of action after September would be, sources say the leaders discussed several options including securing resignation letters of three or four ministers and of an equal number of MLAs, and put them in the hands of party president Sonia Gandhi. A delegation headed by K Keshava Rao and panchayat raj minister K Jana Reddy will leave for Delhi in a couple of days to tell AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad that their patience is running out and that the party seniors must understand the need for an early resolution.They made it clear that the Congress cannot count on their support in the Banswada Assembly byelection. "We will not campaign in the election. We have already told the party high command not to field a candidate in deference to the sentiments of the people of the region. But the party has decided to contest the seat," Nalgonda MP Gutta Sukhender Reddy said.

Asked if the Congress leaders would be campaigning on behalf of the sitting MLA Pocharam Srinviasa Reddy who will be contesting on TRS ticket, Sukhender Reddy said: "The very fact that we are not campaigning for Congress means we are asking people not to vote for the Congress," he said without elaborating.

"We will give a graphic description of what they will be doing after September to the members of the Congress Core Committee," he said. According to Reddy, they are going by what the Congress has promised them. "Azad told us that he would complete the exercise of consultations by the end of this month and submit a report to the party leadership. We expect him to do it," he said.