New Delhi: In a surprise move on Thursday,Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar set in motion the expected political churning ahead of the 2014 elections by pitching for Telangana.The NCP is an important ally of the Congress in the UPA Govt and by endorsing Telangana,Pawar also lent his support for the creation of separate Vidarbha in his native Maharashtra,also a decade-old demand.
Telangana supporters received a pleasant surprise when soon after the Union cabinet meeting,Pawar met P M Manmohan Singh and told him that according statehood to Telangana should brook no delay. Dragging the feet on the issue would aggravate the situation in Andhra Pradesh where tensions in the two regions have been rising by the day,the NCP chief told Manmohan Singh. According to sources,Pawar referred to the assurance given by Congress to T people in 2004,the incorporation of the demand in the common minimum programme of the UPA as well as its inclusion in the first Presidential address after the Congress-led coalition assumed power at the Centre.After having gone this far,you cannot ignore the issue.Delaying the decision on Telangana will be no good for the Congress, he is said to have told the PM.
Later,addressing the media,Pawar said: The Congress too is inclined towards Telangana.The issue is that of timing.We want Telangana as early as possible.A delay will not be helpful to us, he said.The agriculture minister recalled how his party had been supportive of separate Telangana for long and that he had participated in a rally with TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao a few years back.The NCP chief said he had no knowledge as to why the decision on Telangana was being delayed.When asked if the parliament session was the reason,he said he had no information.
TRS MLA Harish Rao thanked Pawar for his initiative on T. Sharad Pawar has been consistent in his support to Telangana.We thank him on behalf of Telangana people, Harish Rao said in Hyderabad. Pawars NCP and the Congress are coalition partners in Maharashtra. Reiterating his stand on Vidarbha, Pawar said NCP had no objection if the Vidarbha region also becomes a separate state.We will not come in the way".Incidentally,the NCP had been silent on the Vidarbha demand till now and Pawars sudden endorsement of Telangana and Vidarbha is being seen as an indication of a changed political strategy of the NCP in approaching the 2014 general election.NCP leader and Union minister Praful Patel represents the Gondia Lok Sabha seat from Vidarbha.
The Congress too is inclined towards Telangana.The issue is that of timing.We want Telangana as early as possible.A delay will not be helpful to us
Sharad Pawar
Vizag court summons KCR
The ongoing war of complaints lodged by opponents and supporters of Telangana took a new turn on Thursday with a Vizag court issuing summons to TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao and TJAC chairman M Kodandaram to present themselves before the judge in Visakhapatnam on February 15.Senior Civil Judge K Surya Rao issued the summons on the basis of a petition filed by Samaikyandhra Students JAC in which the two leaders were charged with making derogatory comments against Sonia Gandhi,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
There is no disagreement among us: T Cong MPs
New Delhi / Hyderabad: Confusion prevailed in the ranks of the Telangana Congress MPs on the resignation threat with four MPs who stayed put in Hyderabad insisting that their resignation letters are still valid even as their colleagues in Delhi maintained that there were no differences between them. The MPs undertook a damage control exercise on Thursday after divisions in the T-Congress MPs ranks came to the fore on Wednesday. Three of them,Madhu Yaskhi,S Rajaiah and Ponnam Prabhakar,after meeting AICC spokesperson P C Chacko in Delhi,said that they have decided to keep their resignations on hold following the assurance on the separate state demand given by him.Four MPs who stayed back in HyderabadGutha Sukhender Reddy,Manda Jagannatham,Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and G Vivek contradicted their colleagues and said their resignation threats still hold good.
On Thursday,the MPs said that there were no differences between them.Madhu Yaskhi met senior party leader Vayalar Ravi in Delhi and is said to have conveyed the anxieties of the Congress MPs who were planning to resign from the party and the Lok Sabha.In Hyderabad,MPs Vivek,Sukhender Reddy,Jagannatham,Rajaiah Prabhakar and Rajagopal Reddy informed the media that they would not go back on their resignations.If the Congress high command ignores the Telangana demand,we will send our resignations directly to Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, Gutha said.
(Source-toi)
Telangana supporters received a pleasant surprise when soon after the Union cabinet meeting,Pawar met P M Manmohan Singh and told him that according statehood to Telangana should brook no delay. Dragging the feet on the issue would aggravate the situation in Andhra Pradesh where tensions in the two regions have been rising by the day,the NCP chief told Manmohan Singh. According to sources,Pawar referred to the assurance given by Congress to T people in 2004,the incorporation of the demand in the common minimum programme of the UPA as well as its inclusion in the first Presidential address after the Congress-led coalition assumed power at the Centre.After having gone this far,you cannot ignore the issue.Delaying the decision on Telangana will be no good for the Congress, he is said to have told the PM.
Later,addressing the media,Pawar said: The Congress too is inclined towards Telangana.The issue is that of timing.We want Telangana as early as possible.A delay will not be helpful to us, he said.The agriculture minister recalled how his party had been supportive of separate Telangana for long and that he had participated in a rally with TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao a few years back.The NCP chief said he had no knowledge as to why the decision on Telangana was being delayed.When asked if the parliament session was the reason,he said he had no information.
TRS MLA Harish Rao thanked Pawar for his initiative on T. Sharad Pawar has been consistent in his support to Telangana.We thank him on behalf of Telangana people, Harish Rao said in Hyderabad. Pawars NCP and the Congress are coalition partners in Maharashtra. Reiterating his stand on Vidarbha, Pawar said NCP had no objection if the Vidarbha region also becomes a separate state.We will not come in the way".Incidentally,the NCP had been silent on the Vidarbha demand till now and Pawars sudden endorsement of Telangana and Vidarbha is being seen as an indication of a changed political strategy of the NCP in approaching the 2014 general election.NCP leader and Union minister Praful Patel represents the Gondia Lok Sabha seat from Vidarbha.
The Congress too is inclined towards Telangana.The issue is that of timing.We want Telangana as early as possible.A delay will not be helpful to us
Sharad Pawar
Vizag court summons KCR
The ongoing war of complaints lodged by opponents and supporters of Telangana took a new turn on Thursday with a Vizag court issuing summons to TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao and TJAC chairman M Kodandaram to present themselves before the judge in Visakhapatnam on February 15.Senior Civil Judge K Surya Rao issued the summons on the basis of a petition filed by Samaikyandhra Students JAC in which the two leaders were charged with making derogatory comments against Sonia Gandhi,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
There is no disagreement among us: T Cong MPs
New Delhi / Hyderabad: Confusion prevailed in the ranks of the Telangana Congress MPs on the resignation threat with four MPs who stayed put in Hyderabad insisting that their resignation letters are still valid even as their colleagues in Delhi maintained that there were no differences between them. The MPs undertook a damage control exercise on Thursday after divisions in the T-Congress MPs ranks came to the fore on Wednesday. Three of them,Madhu Yaskhi,S Rajaiah and Ponnam Prabhakar,after meeting AICC spokesperson P C Chacko in Delhi,said that they have decided to keep their resignations on hold following the assurance on the separate state demand given by him.Four MPs who stayed back in HyderabadGutha Sukhender Reddy,Manda Jagannatham,Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and G Vivek contradicted their colleagues and said their resignation threats still hold good.
On Thursday,the MPs said that there were no differences between them.Madhu Yaskhi met senior party leader Vayalar Ravi in Delhi and is said to have conveyed the anxieties of the Congress MPs who were planning to resign from the party and the Lok Sabha.In Hyderabad,MPs Vivek,Sukhender Reddy,Jagannatham,Rajaiah Prabhakar and Rajagopal Reddy informed the media that they would not go back on their resignations.If the Congress high command ignores the Telangana demand,we will send our resignations directly to Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, Gutha said.
(Source-toi)
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