Telangana issue splits Congress

It’s official. The Telangana statehood issue has vertically split the ruling Congress party. The Congress leaders from Telangana and those from Andhra and Rayalaseema have formed two different groups engaging in a war of words.

A group of 20 MPs from Andhra and Rayalaseema has already met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi on Thursday demanding the state be kept united. The group of MPs from Telangana are awaiting an appointment with Mukherjee.

Leading the pack from Andhra and Rayalaseema, senior Congress MP KS Rao has challenged the Telangana leaders to tender resignations if they were serious about Telangana movement.

“The leaders (from the Telangana region) are sitting pretty and holding on to their positions as MPs and MLAs while provoking common people to hit the roads and face the police. The leaders should quit if they are serious about what they are saying,” Rao said.

Reacting to it, G Sukhender Reddy, a senior Congress MP, said, “We have kept our resignations ready in our pockets. The moment we realise that the Centre is not in favour of Telangana state, we will submit our letters to the party high command.”

Meanwhile, Jupalli Krishna Rao, the Andhra Pradesh endowments minister, has tendered his resignation on Thursday.

He has written a letter to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi explaining the reasons for his decision.