The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Congress MP threatens to quit over SRC issue

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Congress MP threatens to quit over SRC issue

“Second SRC was not acceptable to the people of the region”
People of Telangana would accept nothing short of a separate State

HYDERABAD: Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and Peddapalli MP G. Venkataswamy has threatened to quit his Lok Sabha seat if the second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) is constituted to decide the fate of Telangana and others States.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Venkataswamy made it clear that the second SRC was not acceptable to the people of the region. “If the party makes any attempt to announce the SRC, I will resign my seat,” he said. “Let the party make it clear once and for all its intention on Telangana,” he remarked.

“Many Congress leaders from the region are worried about the consequences of the second SRC,” he said, pointing out that he was not sure whether they would also follow suit. He evaded a direct reply when asked whether his son and Labour Minister G. Vinod would also emulate him. Mr. Venkataswamy said that he would raise the issue in the CWC and ask AICC president Sonia Gandhi to spell out the party’s stand. People of Telangana would accept nothing short of a separate State. Faulting AICC general secretary M. Veerappa Moily for raking up the issue of the second SRC, the seven-time Congress MP said such a statement had only given life to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). The MP opined that Mr. Moily had failed to gauge the mood of the people of the region. He faulted the purported intelligence report that if a separate State was formed, naxalites would have a field day.

Stating that the Congress would retain power in a united Andhra Pradesh, he admitted it would be a Herculean task to win the elections in a separate Telangana State. He said if the TRS had been in favour of a second SRC in 2004 itself, the process would have been completed and a separate State created by now.

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