Shinde’s T note triggers crisis

Seemandhra Ministers, MPs threaten to quit

• Seemandhra leaders meet Digvijay Singh in war room
• They explain the volatile situation in Seemandhra
• Digvijay assures them that there will be no forward movement until Antony panel submits report, according to Kruparani
• No clarity whether Union Cabinet will discuss Shinde’s note at today’s meet

Venkat Parsa

New Delhi: The Union Ministers and Congress MPs from Seemandhra region available in the capital met AICC general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh on Thursday night and held out the resignation threat. The Congress leaders are upset that despite assurances that the Congress High Command will first address the concerns of the people of the Seemandhra region, for which even Antony Committee has been set up, the ruling party seemed determined to press ahead with the decision on bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Crisis triggerered with Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde announcing that the Cabinet Note on Telangana is ready, though he has not studied it, as yet.

Union IT Minister Killi Kruparani said Digvijay Singh had assured them Defence Minister A K Antony is indisposed and it would take a couple of days for him to get back to normal routine. He assured them that their feelings would be conveyed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and also Antony. Killi Kruparani said Digvijay Singh had told them that there would be no forward movement at least till such time that Antony Report s submitted. Kruparani explained that they had explained in a detailed manner how explosive the situation was in the Seemandhra region. Present on the occasion were Union Ministers Killi Krupa Rani, Panabaka Lakshmi, D Purandeshwari and J D Seelam. The MPs included Botcha Jhansi, K V P Ramachandra Rao, V Arun Kumar, A Sai Pratap, G V Harsha Kumar and K Bapiraju.

Raising the pitch, nearly six Congress MPs from the Seemandhra region on Thursday threatened to resign. Ananta Venkatram Reddy, L Rajagopal, Vundavali Arun Kumar, A Sai Pratap, G V Harsha Kumar and S P Y Reddy were among the MPs, who met earlier in the day and decided to resign from their membership of the Lok Sabha by meeting Speaker Meira Kumar.

In a letter to Digvijay Singh, the Seemandhra Congress leaders have set out at length the situation prevailing in Seemandhra region. The contention was that the Congress High Command should put on hold the process of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Alternatively, the Congress High Command should permit them to tender their resignations.

During their meetings with Union Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily and Congress president’s political secretary Ahmed Patel, who are both members of the Antony Committee, on Wednesday, the Seemandhra Congress leaders claimed that the impression given was that the party leadership will strive to hammer out a consensus. But the very next day, Home Minister Shinde’s claim that the Cabinet Note on Telangana is ready has signalled that the party is pressing ahead with the creation of Telangana.

This has upset the Seemandhra Congress leaders, whose grouse is that the party is not taking them seriously. The Congress has decided on a course of action and is pressing ahead with it, without caring for the apprehensions aired by the Seemandhra Congress leaders.

Earlier in the day Shinde said the Cabinet Note on Telangana was ready. The Note had been put up to him by the Home Ministry and said he would study it. There was no clarity on whether or not it would come up in the meeting of the Union Cabinet on Friday morning.

According to sources, the Cabinet Note on Telangana was not listed in the Cabinet Agenda. However, it was pointed out that it could be brought before the Union Cabinet with the permission of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Next week, it is still not clear whether the Cabinet meeting will be held before the departure of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the United States. Just in case it does not come up now, it may come before the Union Cabinet after the return of the Prime Minister from his visit abroad.

It is not clear whether the Cabinet Note will discuss the status of Hyderabad and other contentious issues. Shinde himself said that two to three options on Hyderabad were still being mulled and no final decision had been taken, as yet. While one model for Hyderabad is granting the Union Territory status, the other option is to develop Hyderabad into the State Capital Region, on the lines of Delhi, which has got the National Capital Region status. The issue of Hyderabad has proved to be contentious. While Telangana protagonists are insisting that it is an integral and inseparable part of Telangana, Seemandhra people are unwilling to let go their claim on the City where they have invested their entire wherewithal and have their hearths and homes.

‘Will quit even if one step forward on T’

Earlier, taken aback by the statement of Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde that the draft Cabinet note on Telangana was ready and was under his consideration, Seemandhra MPs said they would resign from Lok Sabha.

They sought appointment of the Lok Sabha Speaker who asked them to appear before her on September 24. Five ministers Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, Pallam Raju, Killi Kruparani, D Purandeswari and J D Seelam and eight MPs, Lagadapati Rajagopal, SPY Reddy, Ananta Venkatarama Reddy, Sai Pratap, Vundavalli Arun Kumar, Harsha Kumar, Chinta Mohan and K V P

Ramachandra Rao also shot off a letter, registering their protest over the statement of Shinde, to AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and made it clear that they would resign from their posts if the Centre took even a step forward without addressing the concerns raised by the people of the Seemandhra region.