How the U-turn came about?

Hectic lobbying by T Congress leaders pays off

Hyderabad: The turnaround on the issue of Rayala Telangana came following hectic political activity in New Delhi; Thursday saw an intense lobbying by pro-Telangana leaders including T Congress leaders.

Ahead of the Union Cabinet meeting, T Congress leaders, who were worried no end by the reports of Rayala Telangana proposal, met the top leaders of Congress and also the members of GoM to oppose creation of Rayala Telangana.

Rajya Sabha MPs including Palvai Govardhan Reddy and R Ananda Bhaskar met AICC president Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged them to see that the CWC resolution was implemented in toto.

Speaking to the , Palvai said that they had not asked for Rayala Telangana at any stage. “We want Telangana with 10 districts and this is what we reiterated when we met the party leadership,” he said. He said some people misled the party leaders, claiming that this formula would help in resolving the problems related to sharing of waters.

V Hanumantha Rao exuded confidence that T state would be formed before the 2014 elections at any cost. Another former PCC president D Srinivas told the media that Congress party and Sonia Gandhi would never change their decisions.

The party leadership was fully aware about the problems that would arise if Rayala Telangana was formed. The issue was blown out of proportion by the media, he said. Interestingly, a comment made by the Union Minister for Finance P Chidambaram revealed the mind of Congress leadership. He told media persons: “Where is Rayala Telangana? We have nothing to do with media speculations.”

Minister for Information technology Ponnala Lakshmaiah told The Hans India that he had definite information that finally the Congress would implement CWC resolution and it would be T state with 10 districts. On the other hand, the TJAC leaders led by Prof M Kodandaram met the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and sought the party”s support to oppose any move to carve Rayala Telangana. According to Prof Kodandaram, Sushma told them that they would oppose any such move. Not to be left behind, the Seemandhra Union Ministers and leaders held a meeting at the house of Union Minister Kavuri Sambasiva Rao. The meeting resolved that ministers should insist on their demand for UT status for Hyderabad even if the decision was in favour of RT. If their demand was turned down, then they should make it clear that the only option left to them would be to resign.

Keeping the reactions in view, the GoM leaders also appeared to have taken a relook at the issue. The AICC-in charge of AP affairs, Digvijay Singh, met GoM members Sushil Kumar Shinde and Jairam Ramesh in North Block. Jairam Ramesh later spoke to BJP senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu on the issue and took his feedback.