Telangana Congress group, comprising of 52 Members of Legislative Assembly and 11 Members of Parliament and other elected representatives, appear to be a divided house on the eve of their visit to New Delhi on Tuesday to meet the party high command on the issue of formation of Telangana state.
Amid reports that decision on the contentious Telangana issue will be taken this month, Congress on Monday said it was not against creation of smaller states including Telangana, but admitted it was a difficult matter to resolve and time consuming too.
Congress MPs from Telangana have threatened to send their resignations to Speaker Meira Kumar if urgent steps were not taken for formation of a separate state.
Voicing disappointment over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh favouring consensus on separate Telangana demand, Congress MPs from the region on Sunday sought intervention of party president Sonia Gandhi in the issue.
Congress leaders from Telangana on Saturday asserted that there was no question of retracting their resignations, tendered in support of the demand of separate state.
Telangana Congress leaders have decided to defy party general secretary Veerappa Moily's diktat that they should withdraw from the Telangana Joint Action Committee.
Amid fresh violence over Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, Congress on Wednesday appealed for calm and normalcy but refused to say whether any mechanism for its creation will be announced by January 28, a deadline set by those agitating for the separate state.
Highly-placed sources in the government say that Congress President Sonia Gandhi had asked Pranab to make the second statement, rolling back the Telangana announcement. However, Mukherjee is learnt to have the told her that the second statement should come from the person who made the first statement, for better credibility. He also advised the Congress president that the prime minister should be kept out of the picture.
After their suspension from Lok Sabha for obstructing proceedings, eight Congress members of Parliament on Thursday protested by blocking Parliament's main gate for 30 minutes and raised pro-Telangana slogans.
Telangana Congress MPs and other leaders on Wednesday thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for recommending the deletion of a controversial clause related to police recruitment, but decided to continue their boycott of official work for now.
There is a lot at stake for the Congress in Andhra Pradesh with all members of legislative assembly and members of Parliament of the party from the Telangana region deciding to tender their resignation on Monday. Currently, hectic efforts are on to pacify these leaders not to resign from their posts.
In a relief for the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh, party members of legislative assembly from Telangana region on Monday ended their boycott of the ongoing budget session over the raging Telangana issue. The decision came following a meeting they had with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and state Congress president D Srinivas in the assembly buildings.
The Telangana issue assumed centre stage on Thursday night as Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily held consultations with Congress members of Legislative Assembly and members of Parliament. Though a lot of hope was pinned by the Telangana leaders on this meeting there was absolutely no decision taken on issue of statehood, say insiders. However, the mass resignation programme by these elected representatives will be put on hold till the assembly elections in five states.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy's efforts to placate the Congress MLAs from Telangana to give up their agitation, as the Centre would make an announcement on the issue in the first week of March, failed to yield any positive result.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday night appealed to ruling Congress Members of Parliament from Telangana not to undertake their proposed fast on Monday for withdrawal of police cases against students, but the Parliamentarians rejected the request. "If the government withdraws the police cases against students by evening, it is fine. Otherwise, Telangana Congress MPs would go on fast from Monday. It is a Gandhian fast," said K Keshav Rao.
The Congress high command has summoned Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and former chief minister and Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah to discuss the Telangana issue. The Congress high command, while delaying its final decision on creating a separate state, had stated that it wanted to consult senior leaders from the state about it.
Stepping up the heat, Congress MPs from Telangana on Friday appealed to Sonia Gandhi to announce decision on creation of a separate state as promised by January 28, failing which they threatened a showdown with party.
Congress leaders from Telangana region will discuss the party's directive that they should "withdraw" from the all-party Telangana Joint Action Committee on Monday.
Even as legislators of the Telugu Desam Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti hailing from Telangana region decided to go ahead with their resignations in support of a separate state on Friday, the Congress group from the region softened its stand and on Tuesday aborted its visit to New Delhi to pressurise the party high command.
Acting tough, the Congress high command on Saturday issued show-cause notices to two Andhra Pradesh MPs -- L Rajagopal and Madhu Goud Yashki -- who are at the forefront of anti-and pro-Telangana campaigns respectively.
The repression let loose by the government and the police against the Telangana supporters to stop them from participating in "Sagara Haaram" program has left the Telangana Congress ministers and MPs very angry and upset and some of them have started talking in terms of tendering their resignations.
Congress lawmakers from Telangana region on Monday protested before party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad against the Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker's move to reject resignations of MLAs over the statehood demand.
Having failed to get any concrete response from the Centre following their en masse resignations in support of a separate state, Telangana Congress leaders on Monday decided to undertake a 48-hour fast to highlight their cause.
The Congress top brass late Thursday night assured its agitating legislators of Andhra Pradesh that "no whip" will be issued to vote in favour of a separate statehood resolution, if and when it comes in the Assembly.
The steering committee of Congress leaders from Telangana on Monday appealed to Andhra Pradesh ministers from the region not to attend their official duties and party MPs to stay away from Parliament.
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