Cong MPs from Telangana warn party of showdown over statehood

While Manda, Gutta Sukhender Reddy and G Vivekananda dropped enough hints that they would quit the party if it did not honour its word on Telangana, Ponnam Prabhakar and Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy differed with them.

"If Telangana state can be achieved by changing the party, I am ready for it. But resignations will not achieve anything," Ponnam observed.

Though he spoke belligerently against the party, Rajagopal Reddy, too, said he would not submit his resignation.

"We are ready for a showdown with the party. We will show our might and stall Parliament during the budget session if Telangana is not granted," he added.

Interestingly, Rajagopal Reddy's name was also in the list of "probables" who were supposed to switch over to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti along with fellow MPs Gutta Sukhender Reddy, Manda Jagannatham, G Vivekananda and S Rajaiah.

Though initially there was talk that Ponnam Prabhakar and Madhu Yashki too would follow suit, they have reportedly dropped the plans and decided to sail with the Congress.

"Whether we join any other party is not the question now. We will not hesitate to quit Congress if it took a decision against creation of Telangana state. We will take some harsh decisions," MPs Gutta Sukhender Reddy and G Vivekananda said.

"There will be repercussions...all kinds of repercussions if the Centre did not keep its word on Telangana," Vivekananda warned.

For the record, however, all the MPs said they would wait for the Centre's decision on the issue till the 28th.

Former minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, on the other hand, met TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao at the latter's residence this morning and discussed ways to carry forward the struggle for Telangana state in the wake of the Centre's flip-flops on the issue.

... contd.

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