DS breaks silence on T issue,supports cause

Breaking his silence on the contentious Telangana issue, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president D Srinivas said he is a strong supporter of separate Telangana state. My heart is filled with Telangana sentiment, he announced on Sunday. The PCC chief asserted that Telangana would materialise soon and said the party high command is committed to carving out a separate state. AICC chief Sonia Gandhi will not do injustice to lakhs of Telangana people, he said inviting loud cheers from the crowds. Stressing his commitment to the formation of a separate state, DS said he had led a team of 41 party MLAs to Delhi and met Sonia Gandhi and other important leaders explaining the need to carve out the Tstate. DS is playing his cards very well. He is trying to woo the voters of Nizamabad urban constituency where the by-election would be held on T-sentiment, a senior Congress leader averred. He said it was no surprise that the PCC chief, who did not utter a word on the separate statehood demand all these days,used the district party workers meeting to win the hearts of the people. DS said he wouldnt mind entering the fray if the people so wished. While he lost to BJPs Y Lakshminarayana in the 2009 polls, analysts said DS would spare no efforts to win back the seat in this by-election. In fact, Sundays tour can be termed as his pre-election campaign, an analyst said. ----------------------------------------------------

Lagadapati petitions EC,seeks cancellation of TRS recognition

Vijayawada Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal said he has approached Election Commission of India to cancel the recognition of certain political parties for championing regionalism and communalism in the country. Addressing mediapersons in Tirupati on Sunday, he alleged that parties like BJP, RSS, MNS and TRS were creating unrest by whipping up regionalism, parochialism and communalism. He said they were pursuing vote-bank politics at the cost of peoples lives. TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao is following the path undertaken by LK Advani, Bal Thackeray and Raj Thackeray. I have written to the EC to cancel the recognition of these parties for encouraging violence, he said. He said poverty exists in every district of the state. While some regions develop fast, others need more time. But that does not mean that the people of the underdeveloped areas would start demanding formation of a separate state, he reasoned. He said decentralisation of power holds key for the overall development of the country, which must begin from the grassroots level. We all should fight to achieve unity in diversity, he felt.
Answering a query, the MP said he was ready to travel across Telangana with PRP chief Chiranjeevi who has hinted at undertaking a tour soon.
------------------------------------------------------------
T Cong leaders meet ex-Speaker


Several senior Congress leaders from Telangana assembled at former Speaker K R Suresh Reddys house on Sunday to discuss modalities to strengthen their case before the Srikrishna Committee. Rajya Sabha MP K Keshava Rao, MLA K Jana Reddy, KR Amos, P Goverdhan Reddy and G Chinna Reddy, were some of leaders present at Reddys residence. Jana Reddy told reporters that though meeting was satisfactory, they would again meet in next few days to finalise list of leaders who could convincingly present views on their behalf in support of Telangana to Srikrishna Committee. We discussed a host of subjects that has to be presented before the committee members. We have short listed  agenda that will strengthen our case in support of Telangana state. All arguments will be substantiated with facts and figures.We will present a strong case in support of the aspirations of the people of this region, Chinna Reddy said. It is learnt that Telangana leaders insisted on learning reasons from PCC chief D Srinivas and chief minister K Rosaiah for not submitting the partys viewpoint to the fivemember committee. On the issue of contesting in the by-elections,the party leaders said that matter has been left to discretion of the high command. We will abide by the high commands decision, whatever it is, they said.
------------------------------------------------------
(source-toi)