T Congress MPs end dharna at Parliament

Five Telangana Congress MPs � G Vivek, Gutta Sukhender Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar, Manda Jagannatham and S Rajaiah � on Wednesday concluded their 48-hour dharna at the main entrance to Parliament. The dharna was staged to express solidarity with the two-day TJAC 'Chalo Sansad' programme. Ponnam Prabhakar said, "We concluded our agitation at 11 am. We are definitely expecting a positive result on this issue and we are sure that the message has reached the Congress High Command and top government level." The dharna at Parliament was also meant to mount pressure on the government and the Congress on the need for an early decision on Telangana. S Rajaiah alleged that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar was misleading the Congress High Command on the Telangana issue. The charge of the Telangana Congress MPs is that Kiran Reddy's position is ambiguous and contradictory. While on the one hand Kiran claims that the decision on Telangana is under the jurisdiction of the Congress High Command and that he would abide by whatever decision is taken by it, and on the other hand he is misleading the High Command on the issue of Telangana, they said. The Telangana Congress MPs sat on a dharna for 48 hours at 11 am on Monday. They sat and even slept during the nights on the steps of the main entrance to Parliament. Doctors were called out to conduct medical tests on them, as Manda Jagannatham has BP and diabetes. Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj led a host of leaders from different political parties, who visited them and expressed solidarity with the cause of Telangana. The Congress, however, called for restraint, saying that the issue was under the consideration of the Congress High Command, which would take an appropriate decision at an appropriate time. Venkat Parsa