No hard stance on Telangana, Cong assures Andhra leaders

The Congress brass today assured its agitating legislators of Andhra Pradesh that “no whip” will be issued to vote in favour of a separate statehood resolution, if and when it comes in the Assembly.

At a meeting with Congress MLAs from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told them, “don’t worry. The party will not issue any whip to vote on the Telangana resolution. It will be left to your conscience to approve or reject the resolution.”

A ‘whip’ in an Assembly or Parliament means the legislators have to follow the party line and can’t vote against it. Otherwise, the legislator would lose the membership of the House on grounds of indiscipline.

The assurance came with a stern warning as well. When Ananth V Reddy, an anti-Telangana MP from Andhra Pradesh, raised his voice against the Centre’s move in front of Mukherjee, the agitated finance minister snapped back and warned the legislators against resigning from the Assembly to mark their protests.

“If you people continue to resign from the House then be prepared to face fresh election,” Mukherjee told them.

Meanwhile, in Hyderabad, Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) boss Chiranjeevi took a U-turn today to oppose a separate Telangana state after TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu made same political somersault. The pro-Telangana lobby will face more difficulty to push for a favourable resolution in the Assembly.

In the national capital too, hectic lobbying against Telangana continued as the group of MLAs met Home Minister P Chidambaram and Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel apart from meeting Mukherjee. According to sources, they were assured in all the meetings that nothing will happen without an appropriate resolution from the AP Assembly.

Even as the deadlock over separate Telangana continues, TRS leader K Chandrashekhar Rao—the main force for a separate state—made it clear that it would not add to the woes of the Centre. “The Centre has taken a step towards the formation of Telangana. We cannot even imagine that the Centre would go back,” he told reporters here.

While asserting that an Assembly resolution is not required for a new state, Rao said: “It was expected that there will be a bit of reaction from vested interests. Anti-Telangana protests for a united Andhra Pradesh are all promoted and sponsored by vested interests having their properties in Hyderabad.”