N Nagaraja Rao
Even as the Congress Working Committee is planning to meet to take a decision on demands for a separate Telangana State, political temperatures across the State have shot up with 12 MLAs from Rayalaseema and Andhra region resigning from the State Assembly. They include 11 MLAs of YSR Congress and one of ruling Congress Party who sent their resignations to Speaker N Manohar through fax in protest of attempts to bifurcate the State.The move comes at a time when the top three political figures of the State Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, State Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana and deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha have been summoned to New Delhi by the Congress leadership for yet another round of consultations this weekend ahead of the CWC meet. Political observers believe that since the bifurcation is imminent, it wants to protect its turf in Rayalseema taking a lead ahead of other parties in demanding nothing short of integrated Andhra Pradesh State thereby playing to the galleries.
With the D-Day on Telangana approaching fast, leaders from either side of the divide seem to be preparing themselves for the future. As the Congress high command has already dropped hints that it has almost decided to bifurcate the State, Seemandhra leaders are getting ready to swallow the bitter pill whereas their T-counterparts are making preparations for the “momentous occasion”.Police reinforcements are being rushed from neighboring states of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu to guard sensitive areas in Coastal Rayalseema and security forces are being deployed to face any eventuality.
What remains to be seen is the Congress Party’s stand on the issue? Congress had infact played enough politics over Telangana issue and can ill afford to do more injustice to the people of Andhra by dilly-dallying on the matter. Agitations all over Andhra and Rayalseema have generated enough heat demanding a integrated Andhra State and Joint Action Commitees of Students have demanded mass resignations of legislators and Ministers from this region, knowing fully well that Congress High Command has almost decided to bifurcate the state.
The State DGP has also been called to New Delhi and believed to have had meetings with the Union Home Ministry officials.Political analysts believe that that Union Home Ministry has already divulged that the Centre has already asked the State administration to prepare for the impending decision on Telangana.
According to a reliable source, none other than the AICC chief Sonia Gandhi herself had hinted to some of the top leaders of the State Congress that she was inclined to divide the State into Seemandhra and Rayala-Telangana. AICC leadership is now debating the the status of Hyderabad. Should Hyderabad be declared a Union Territory?
As always with the Congress, though the ministers from Andhra and Rayalseema, probably for the sake of public consumption, declared they would not allow the State to be divided, none came forward to openly defy the party high command so far. All that they did was “leak” to the media that they were prepared to quit the party in the worst case scenario.
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