Cracks in Cong over Telangana out in the open

The fissures in the Congress over the Telangana issue today came to the fore in the Lok Sabha with Y S Jaganmohan Reddy along with some other party members joining a TDP protest against the decision to carve out a separate state from Andhra Pradesh.

Jaganmohan, son of late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, even stormed the well of the House, joining the TDP members who had trooped in there earlier.

The TDP members were carrying placards saying 'We want united AP'. Jaganmohan also borrowed a placard from them as they shouted slogans in support of a united Andhra Pradesh.

Jaganmohan was joined by Congress members K Bapiraju, B Jhansi Lakshmi, Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, K S Rao and some others.

This forced Speaker Meira Kumar to adjourn the House for 15 minutes as her pleas to restore order did not fructify.

Congress members from Telangana, including M Jagannath, countered them while hailing the government's announcement on carving out a separate Telangana state.

Trouble began as soon as K Narayana Rao (TDP) was allowed by the Speaker to raise the issue of united Andhra Pradesh as an exception as he had not given notice.

As he pitched for a united Andhra Pradesh, Congress members from Telangana were on their feet protesting against the matter.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal's attempts to persuade the Congress members to go back to their seats went in vain.

M Jagannath, representing Nagarkurnool, was seen arguing vociferously with his party colleagues after the Speaker adjourned the House.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who was present during the Question Hour, had left the House minutes before the trouble began.

When proceedings resumed at 12.30 PM, TDP members N Sivaprasad, N Kristappa, M Venugopal Reddy and K Narayana Rao were in the Well of the House once again demanding that the government should reverse its decision to create Telangana.

As they chanted slogans in favour of "united Andhra", Leader of the House and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee lost temper and angrily asked TDP members to return to their seats.

Mukherjee objected to the way TDP members were presenting their point of view.

The TDP members responded in an agitated tone, leading to a clash-like situation.

They were insisting that the government should make a statement withdrawing the announcement made by Home Minister P Chidambaram about Telangana.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee was seen pacifying Mukherjee.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Sanjay Nirupam (Cong), Sudip Bandhopadhyay (Trinamool) and Revati Raman Singh (SP) were seen persuading the TDP members to resume their seats.

The Speaker wanted to know what the TDP members wanted as they were preventing Lalji Tandon (BJP) from speaking on discussion on supplementary demands for Railways.