Date:09/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/09/stories/2006090911750400.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

YSR wants party to stay unified

Special Correspondent

Cabinet meeting discusses Telangana issue in depth

Ministers asked to take on TRS without verbal duals
Cabinet reminded about presence of States' Reorganisation Commission

Consensus among Congressmen to handle TRS' disinformation campaign

HYDERABAD: Should there be differing voices in the Congress over every issue - be it the capacity of the Pothireddipadu head regulator or the party's response to the campaign by Telangana Rashtra Samithi ?

This was the leading question at the meeting of the Cabinet here on Friday.

According to sources, Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy was not too happy with the meek response of Ministers to the TRS' campaign against the ruling Congress on Telangana issue. He advised them to take on the TRS without entering into mud-slinging, verbal matches. Major Irrigation Minister

Allaying fears

P. Lakshmaiah took the flak for his failure in allaying the apprehensions in certain quarters that increasing the discharge capacity of the Pothireddipadu head regulator would damage the interests of Telangana region.

Although the Congress Government had done much more for the development of Telangana than the previous Telugu Desam regime, there was no concerted campaign to highlight this achievement, he is reported to have said.

There was also no unity among Congress leaders in denouncing the charge levelled by the TRS that the ruling party had betrayed it, he pointed out. He drew the Cabinet's attention to the understanding reached between the TRS and Congress on March 4, 2004 to constitute a second States' Reorganisation Commission to resolve the separate Telangana issue.

The Chief Minister defended APCC president K. Keshava Rao's stand in seeking information on the Pothireddipadu head regulator as some MLAs had represented the matter to him expressing apprehensions over it. He asked Mr. Lakshmaiah to explain the facts to the people to highlight that the Government was not depriving any region of its share of water.

The Cabinet meeting got extended by about an hour to debate over the Telangana issue in depth and a consensus emerged that the Congress could successfully take on the challenge posed by the TRS by educating masses on the developmental initiatives. Senior Ministers were asked to launch a collective effort to nullify the effect of "the disinformation campaign by some persons and sections" in this regard.