The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Uproar over `offensive remarks' Congress MLAs train guns on KCR, Narendra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 11, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Uproar over `offensive remarks' Congress MLAs train guns on KCR, Narendra

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 10. A group of Congress MLAs from Coastal and Rayalaseema regions led by Gade Venkat Reddy on Friday demanded that the two Union Ministers -- K. Chandrasekhara Rao and A. Narendra of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi -- quit for their comments against the Congress leadership at the Centre and in the State.

Addressing a press conference in the Assembly lobbies, they said they would take up the issue with the All-India Congress Committee president, Sonia Gandhi, and the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, soon. "Being allies of the Congress, the TRS leaders should restrain themselves. If they cannot they should walk out of the alliance," they added. They made it clear that they had not consulted party legislators from Telangana "as they have a different opinion." Apart from the TRS leaders' comments and "threats" against the Congress leadership, the legislators were peeved that Mr. Narendra had spoken of seeking support from the BJP on the issue of statehood in Parliament. "How can he talk like this being in the Congress-led Government?" they asked.

Team meets YSR

The legislators, who met the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy earlier in the day, claimed that he had approved their plan to approach the party high command.

Mr. Venkat Reddy said the Union Ministers had made it a habit to confuse people of the State on Telangana and criticise the Congress leadership and the Chief Minister. In the latest instance, while Mr. Chandrasekhara Rao spoke of not hesitating to resorting to violence for demanding Telangana, Mr. Narendra raised questions over the Government efforts to build irrigation projects.

They clarified that their demand for resignation was confined to the Union Ministers and not the State Ministers as "they are much more restrained." They hoped that the sub-committee announced by the UPA Government would take the opinion of legislators and leaders from all regions in the State. They said formation of separate Telangana was not a solution. Backwardness of a region could be removed within the integrated State. If the demand is to be considered, it should only be through the Second State Reorganisation Commission, as decided by the Congress Working Committee.

The other legislators present were Dronamraju Satyanarayana, P. Sambasiva Raju, Buddha Prasad, Kasu Venkatakrishna Reddy all from Andhra region and Varadarujulu Reddy from Rayalaseema.

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