Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

A.P. Cong. begins unity exercise

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD AUG. 23. The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president and deputy leader of the CLP, D. Srinivas, and the CLP leader, Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy, in a show of perfect coordination between the CLP and the PCC, set about the task of forging unity among different groups of the party on contentious issues today.

Addressing a special CLP meeting held to chalk out the party's strategy in the next Assembly session, both leaders appealed to legislators to expose the Government's ineptness in handling major concerns. In all, 68 MLAs and two MPs attended the meeting.

The meeting was significant as it was the first one after Mr. Srinivas took over and it was used to take stock of the party's position in the aftermath of the CLP leader's recent 1,500-km padayatra in the backdrop of the CFT (Congress Forum for Telangana) stand. However, no serious differences were aired and the meeting passed off peacefully to the satisfaction of both leaders. Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy asked the PCC president to elicit the opinion of "all leaders in the party'' on the issue of Telangana sentiment. An MLA belonging to the CFT underscored the need to convince the AICC to come out with some assurance on their demands. The disparity in developing the region was glaring and the issue needed to be addressed properly, it was agreed.

The general contention veered around display of restraint as the AICC was seized of the matter and the CFT members urged the CLP and PCC leaders to secure a compromise formula from New Delhi during their joint visit. All the three MLAs who had sent their resignations to the AICC president, Sonia Gandhi, on the Telangana issue, attended the meeting.

The CLP decided to focus its efforts on highlighting the failure of the Government in strengthening the local bodies. The dilution of powers given to the local bodies and the disregard shown to the 73rd and 74th Amendment would be dealt with seriously in the next Assembly session.

The party decided to urge the Chief Minister to let the local bodies select beneficiaries of the housing programme through gram sabhas and not leave it to the discretion of the MLAs.

The meeting demanded supply of uninterrupted power to the farm sector as promised by the Government.

Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy and Mr. Srinivas left for New Delhi to hold talks with the high command to chalk out an agitational plan to "expose the misrule of the TD.'' Formation of the new PCC executive committee is also on the cards. Consensus being the watch-word, both leaders would make efforts to close ranks with others in the party.

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