By M H Ahssan
Elated over the 3-2 victory for the party in the just concluded Assembly polls, the Congress on Tuesday decided to dump Telangana and go to the people with the development plank of the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government in the 2009 elections.
“The Congress High Command has decided that it will take up the Telangana issue only after the elections next year,” AICC sources told HNN.
This decision of the party high command was conveyed to chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy by AICC general secretary in-charge of the state M Veerappa Moily when the two met in the national capital on Tuesday. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has also directed Rajasekhara Reddy to make the developmental programmes of the state government as the party’s election plank, the sources added, clearly implying that the Congress would go it alone in the polls.
“No more Telangana trouble. The election results of five states has proved beyond doubt that the people prefer a performing government. Except the performance of the state government, nothing matters in the 2009 elections. Therefore, it has been decided to take up the T issue only after the general elections next year,” AICC sources told HNN.
The chief minister is scheduled to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Wednesday at which ‘madam’ is expected to wholeheartedly back Rajasekhara Reddy. The chief minister has all along been maintaining that the separate state is not really an issue on the ground and that the developmental programmes undertaken by his government in the region would be enough for the party to sail through in the hustings. “With the thorny issue kept aside for the time being, we can completely focus on returning to power by publicising the developmental programmes,” a CM’s aide said.
Meanwhile, the election results has come as a dampener for both the Telangana Congress leaders and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. “In the backdrop of the Congress win in Delhi, Rajasthan and Mizoram, we cannot press for a decision on Telangana. The results have strengthened the hands of the chief minister,” a Congress leader from Telangana region admitted. Another Congress leader said that they had dropped the idea of meeting Sonia Gandhi on the need to announce creation of Telangana before the general elections.
According to sources, the TRS too is suddenly caught in a dilemma. “Since we cannot go it alone, we will be forced to agree to the TDP and Left terms and join the alliance and hope to counter the Congress in the region,” one TRS leader said.
LOSING HOPES: Is Congress losing hopes of a favourable decision from the party high command on formation of separate Telangana State before the next elections? The tenor of PCC president D Srinivas comments on the issue suggests so.
"It is not an issue to be discussed at the PCC level. In fact it has been discussed at several levels. What is there do discuss now?" the PCC chief said with a tinge of despondency in his voice at a news conference. The reaction came when the reporters asked him if the issue figured in the DCC presidents’ and PCC office bearers’ conference held earlier in the day.
"The party high command has to take a decision on the issue," he said, finally. Asked about senior member and MLA V. Purushotham Reddy’s remarks that lack of unity among senior Congress members had resulted in `dilution’ of Telangana issue, the PCC chief shot back saying that it was for him (Purushotham Reddy) to bring about unity since he is a senior leader.
Dismissing as hollow claim the contention of the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) that it would win all the 294 seats in the State, Srinivas said Chiranjeevi’s party had no `history or leadership capability’ that would prove decisive in the elections. Srinivas said that he had given instructions to the party cadre to organise `human chain’ programme on December 28, Congress party Foundation Day. The programme would reflect party’s achievements and commitments with main thrust on development and welfare activities.
Participants would take pledge to rededicate themselves for the success of Congress party.
Another programme titled `Sankshema utsavaalu’ would be taken up to ensure that local Congress leaders and workers visit households of beneficiaries covered under various State and Central Government schemes. Public meetings would be organized in each and every mandal, he said.
On the other hand, BJP accused the Congress, TRS and TDP of sabotaging the Telangana issue by dive r t i n g public attention to the Babli controversy.
Addressing mediapersons, BJP Telangana Udyama Committee chairman Ch Vidyasagar Rao alleged that these parties diverted public attention from Telangana by projecting Babli as the burning issue. "Both are important, but Telangana is paramount. People must realise that this is the right time for the Telangana issue to be taken up on a massive scale. It is a sinister design by all these parties to push the issue on to the backburner," he said.
Rao said the credibility of TRS was at its lowest, as it had been continuously trying to stay afloat by raking up one issue or the other, but not Telangana. "It has not made a sincere effort to convince the Congress to sign a resolution in support of a separate state. TRS is full of pseudo Telangana activists. They should have forced the Congress to introduce a bill in Parliament by now on the separate statehood demand. So, we have no reason to ally with TRS," he said.
Rao said the resounding success of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattissgarh were indicators of NDA's bright chances to come back to power at the Centre. "Though we cannot form government in Rajasthan, neither can the Congress given an unclear mandate," he said.
Ruling out the concept of a third front, Rao said the Congress and BJP were the only key players left in the national political arena. "It is time for all regional and the Left parties to introspect, else they will be wiped out. They should start looking at political parties with an open mind and stop claiming that they have nothing to do with parties like BJP, the BJP leader said."
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