Rosaiah government under pressure over Telangana

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: The K Rosaiah government in Andhra Pradesh finds itself under immense pressure from not only the opposition parties but also a section of the Congress leaders to find out an early solution to the Telangana crisis even as the Chief Minister discussed with his Cabinet colleagues from the region the strategies to be adopted to arrive at an amicable solution.
The state government is now looking towards the Centre for a bail out as the Congress MPs hailing from Telangana requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to come up with a decision on the contentious issue.
With the winter session of the state Legislature set to begin on Monday, the state government was seriously engaged in deliberations to find a solution to the crisis in the wake of the stepped up agitation for a separate state.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhar Rao remained stubborn for the fifth day today as he refused to end his fast while two of his party legislators locked themselves up in their Legislature Party office in the Assembly here and announced that they were going on a fast. The two MLAs – N Odelu and Koppula Easwar threatened to commit suicide if anyone tried to evict them from their office.
Health Minister Danam Nagender called on Chandrasekhar Rao at the NIMS, where he is said to be continuing his fast, as an emissary of the Chief Minister and prevailed upon him to end the fast. “I shall end my fast only if a positive statement on Telangana is made,” KCR reportedly told Nagender.
The state government has sent M V Rao, working in a private hospital here, as the personal doctor to attend on KCR in NIMS on his request. NIMS doctors said the fasting leader was being administered saline and his health condition was stable.
The principal opposition Telugu Desam Party, meanwhile, said it would not directly take part in any agitation for Telangana but would support any legislative process to facilitate formation of a separate state.
“We shall extend our support if the government moves a resolution in the Assembly for creation of Telangana state,” TDP senior MLA Erraballi Dayakar Rao said.
The Praja Rajyam Party wanted the government to find an amicable solution to the issue and not to resort to oppressive measures. “Since the Congress is in power both in the state and at the Centre, it should take the initiative any facilitate the process of carving out Telangana state,” PRP Political Affairs Committee member C Ramachandraiah said.
The CPI announced that its affiliate wings like All India Students Federation would take direct part in the agitation for a separate Telangana state. “We have already passed a political resolution seeking statehood for Telangana. We shall raise the issue in the ensuing session of the state Legislature as well as the ongoing session of Parliament,” CPI state secretary K Narayana said.
Rajya Sabha member and senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao, a proponent of Telangana, said they had already informed their high command about the urgent need for taking a favourable decision on the statehood demand. “Our MPs have already spoke to Sonia Gandhi on this and also the Prime Minister. I have apprised the National Security Adviser M K Narayanan about the fresh round of agitation for Telangana and sought his intervention as well,” Hanumantha Rao told students who mobbed his residence.
Meanwhile, reports from various parts of Telangana said students as well as other sections continued to resort to violent acts demanding immediate grant of statehood for the region.
In Dilsukhnagar, agitated students blocked the convoy of Information Technology Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy while effigies of Higher Education Minister D Sridhar Babu and Home Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy were burnt elsewhere.
Two private buses were gutted at Kukatpally here while few other incidents of damage to public property were reported from Medak, Nizamabad and Warangal districts.