Cong will be cornered to resolve T: Kodandaram

• Party will be buried if it plays with Telangana sentiment
• Views, reports cannot be termed road map
• Without Telangana people, how it could be Samaikyandhra meet

Hyderabad: Telangana JAC will not stay silent but corner the Congress party from all sides if it does not resolve the statehood issue in the Core Committee meeting slated for July 12, Prof.Kodandaram warned here on Wednesday. He said more clarity on the issue is likely within a week. He said the national party would be buried if it played with the sentiments of the people once again. Participating in a live-show telecast during prime time on HMTV, Kodandaram stated that JAC had pinned some hopes on a favorable decision on Telangana at the upcoming crucial meet. "This change of heart in the Congress party was due to the concerted efforts put in by JAC and Telangana supporters in the last three years. This itself is a big morale booster for us which would inspire us to wage a relentless fight till we achieve the goal irrespective of the outcome of the Congress meet," he said. According to Kodandaram, views and reports sought by the Congress high command should not be termed as 'road-map'. He opined that the top brass of the national party actually sought a position paper eliciting opinions about various possibilities in case of maintaining status quo or bifurcation of the State. The Professor, however, maintained that Congress party was known for taking decisions based on short-term interests rather than long-term goals. He expressed doubts about political strategy behind the urgency shown by the Congress high command on the issue for the last few weeks. Highly critical of the Integrationists meet organized by MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar in Rajahmundry, Kodandaram pointed out that any meeting which does not have people of Telangana cannot not be called as 'Samaikyandhra' meet. This is nothing but an effort of Seemandhra lobby to impose their dominance on Telangana people, he felt. When asked about the open debate challenge thrown by the Congress MP, T JAC chief pointed out that there were two different forums within the Congress party. When the MP was not successful in achieving consensus within Seemandhra and Telangana sections of the party, how he could demand a debate again, the Professor wondered. Reacting to the claims that Seemandhra region contributes a major chunk of taxes to the State exchequer, Kodandaram pointed out that then it should not object for bifurcation since the new Seemandhra state can develop more with its own funds. Commenting on continued silence of TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao for the past few weeks in spite of the issue gaining momentum in New Delhi, Kodandaram observed that not too much should be read into it. He stated that many other leaders of the pro-Telangana party were speaking on the issue. Raheem (Khammam), Anjaneyulu (Hyderabad), Sharon(Warangal), Suresh (Mahabubnagar), Venkanna (Nalgonda), Jaganmohan Rao (Nagarkurnool), Anandam (Tandur), Mamatha (Godavarikhani), Satyanarayana (Shadnagar), Sathish (Guntur), Shahjahan (Nagarkurnool), Ramanaiah (Hyderabad) and Subba Rao (Hyderabad) posed questions to Kodandaram during the programme.