Cong. restrains Telangana leaders

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, NOV. 28. The AICC-I secretary, Mr. Daljit Singh, and the APCC-I president, Mr. M. Satyanarayana Rao, have warned party leaders from Telangana against airing their views on separate statehood for the region `beyond the scope of the resolution adopted by the Congress-I Working Committee (CWC) seeking constitution of the second State's Reorganisation Committee (SRC).'

The warning from both leaders came at a meeting of DCC presidents at Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday and assumes significance in the light of the activities of the Telangana Congress Legislators Forum (TCLF), which had organised a convention recently to further the cause of Telangana.

The raging controversy between party leaders from Telangana and Andhra regions on the Pulichintala project is said to have prompted the PCC-I president to take a tough stand on the issue.

Mr. Satyanarayana Rao said at the meeting that the CWC had taken a clear stand on the sensitive Telangana tangle by recommending to the NDA Government to set up a second SRC to examine the demands of Telangana and Vidharbha in detail. ``The CWC stand is a `Lakshman Rekha' for all party leaders. We should abide by it. Anyone crossing the rekha would attract disciplinary action,'' he cautioned.

Mr. Daljit Singh, the AICC secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh, was equally emphatic that party leaders honour the CWC resolution and restrain themselves from airing their views. But the strongly-worded letter from TCLF convener, Mr. A. Indrakaran Reddy, to the APCC-I president, raising serious objections to the latter's comments on the activities of the TCLF, did not figure at the DCC chiefs' meeting.

Briefing presspersons after the meeting, the APCC-I vice president, Mr. Gade Venkat Reddy, said the PCC-I chief would examine the letter and take appropriate action.

Mr. Venkat Reddy said it was resolved to organise a broad-based meeting of PCC, DCC, Zilla Parishad and Mandal Parishad functionaries belonging to the party and defeated candidates of the last elections in Hyderabad some time in the last week of December or the first week of January. The meeting will be addressed by the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi.

The meet took serious note of the manner in which Panchayat Raj institutions had been weakened by the TDP Government. It was decided to organise a phased agitation to highlight these issues but the schedule would be chalked out at a meeting of the PCC general body to be held on December 8.

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Section  : Southern States
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