Andhra Pradesh   

Sonia's word on Telangana is final: Rajasekhara Reddy

Staff Reporter

Congress president yet to reveal her mind on the issue

DUGGIRALA (Guntur dt.): Congress party president Sonia Gandhi's word on separate Telangana is final and she has not spoken to us about it so far, said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy here on Tuesday.

"The promises being made by K. Chandrasekhara Rao on Telangana are purportedly based on Sonia Gandhi's assurances. Going by KCR's public statements I fail to understand whether she is Congress party president or TRS president. Why should Soniaji promise him something and not tell us," Dr. Reddy asked reporters at a press conference here. The Chief Minister, who came here to launch the Rythu Sadassu, said that the BJP had gone back on its own written commitment on Telangana and no other political party was interested in carving out Telangana. "The Congress is clear on its stand of going by the political consensus and instituting Second States Reorganisation Commission if at all Telangana issue is to be discussed," he said.

Congress legislators were the first to ask for a separate Telangana, but then the prevailing conditions were different with the entire region being neglected by the then ruling party Telugu Desam Party. With improvement in irrigation facilities, things had changed and none aspired for separate Telangana now, he felt.

The Congress would not field factionists in coming panchayat elections and it had asked the Telugu Desam Party also to do so, he said. "Congress is very clear on the issue, it is up to them to decide," he said. There were more than 100 faction murders every year when the TDP was in power, he said. The party would make local need-based adjustments with the TRS and the CPI (M) without a State-level understanding, Dr. Reddy said. The survey of households in the submersible areas of Pulichintala project, which was pending in Guntur district, would be completed in 15 days and the draft notification and declaration issued within a month and rehabilitation package finalised by the first week of June, he said.

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