BJP playing ‘spoilsport’: T Cong

Hyderabad: The Telangana Congress leaders are worried over the delay on the part of the Central government to take the issue of carving out separate state forward. They suspect that the BJP would exert pressure on the Centre not to move forward till the concerns of the Seemandhra region are addressed and normalcy was restored in that part of the state.

This was the concern expressed by the Telangana ministers who had a meeting with TJAC leaders here on Saturday to review the political situation in the wake of the one-month-long agitation in Seemandhra. Among those who attended the meeting were Deputy Chief Minister C Damodar Rajanarasimha, K Jana Reddy, Basavaraj Saraiah, D K Aruna, Ponnala Lakshmaiah and senior leader Shabbir Ali. According to a senior minister, the meeting was of the opinion that the Seemandhra leaders had been successful in making the BJP top brass acknowledge the seriousness of the agitation that has been on in the 13 districts of Seemandhra.

The very fact that the BJP had strongly opposed the suspension of Seemandhra MPs in Lok Sabha and the manner in which M Venkaiah Naidu supported Harikrishna when he insisted in speaking in Telugu in Rajya Sabha was an indication of the BJP game plan, the T leaders felt. The meeting decided that while the T Congress leaders should continue to put pressure on the Centre to take the issue forward, the TRS would wait for one more week before resorting to protests. The TRS according to K Keshav Rao was hopeful that the cabinet note would be presented by September 6.