FOR THE PEOPLE: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy addressing the public after releasing water into a distributory of AMR project at Gundlapally in Nalgonda district on Tuesday. -PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

NALGONDA: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has blamed the Telangana Rastra Samithi for "not waiting for the final decision of All-India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi on the issue of carving out a separate State."

Addressing a well-attended public meeting organised by the District Congress Committee at the NG College grounds on Tuesday, he said: "The TRS, which was given a written commitment on the constitution of the second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) before the elections, committed a mistake by not waiting for the final decision of Ms. Sonia Gandhi."

At the fag end of his speech, most of which he dedicated to making parallels between the Telugu Desam and Congress Governments, Dr. Reddy spoke on the Telangana issue. He was, however, very cautious in choosing words while dealing with the issue so as not to cross the "Laxman rekha" drawn by State in-charge of the party affairs Digvijay Singh.

`Not fair to force us'

Reiterating that Ms. Sonia would take an "appropriate decision at an appropriate time," he said: "Is it fair to force us to take a `final decision' when our allies -- CPI, CPI(M) and the Majlis - have advise us against being hasty ?"

The Chief Minister charged the Bharatiya Janata Party with changing its stand on the Telangana issue after forfeiting power. "The BJP, which was not in favour of constituting the second SRC, is now claiming that it is for a separate State. How can we relay on such people," he questioned.

New History

Dr. Reddy said that Ms. Sonia was keen on the "overall development" of the Telangana region. "We will supply water to every acre in this region and we will ensure uplift of all sections here. We are going to create a new history," he maintained.

The Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Keshava Rao made it clear that Ms. Sonia would not backtrack from her word.Earlier accompanied by Mr. Keshava Rao, Ministers P. Laxmaiah and K. Jana Reddy and MLAs, the Chief Minister released water into the distributory No.37 of the Alimineti Madhava Reddy project. Though 46,000 acres would be irrigated through the D-37, water would be supplied to 6,254 acres during the kharif and another 4,289 acres during the rabi season.

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