Telangana turmoil hits Telugu Desam

Just like the ruling Congress party in the state is divided on the regional lines, the Opposition Telugu Desam Party too is affected by the Telangana turmoil with the party MLAs threatening to float a separate unit if TDP president, N Chandrababu Naidu, fails to declare support for the statehood cause.

TDP MLAs, MLCs and MPs held a meeting here and passed a resolution urging Naidu to open a separate unit for the Telangana region.

“We have full faith in Naidu’s leadership and are confident that he will not go back on the stance of supporting formation of Telangana state. We know he is under pressure from the leaders of Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra. If he bows to their pressure and changes his stance, then we will go ahead and float a Telangana TDP wing,” senior party legislator, E Dayakar Rao, said.

The TDP, which had earlier assured its support for formation of Telangana state, found itself in a tight spot after the Union government’s announcement on initiating the process for formation of the new state.

The TDP president himself admitted that his party was divided over the issue and efforts were on to sort out the differences through internal debate.

Meanwhile, the state Legislative Assembly was adjourned sine die even as tension gripped Andhra and Rayalaseema regions due to the current, widespread agitation against the Centre's decision to carve out a separate Telangana state.

The winter session of the Assembly, which started on December 7, is scheduled to be held till December 23. However, in an unprecedented move following resignation of nearly 140 legislators, the House was adjourned by speaker, N Kiran Kumar Reddy, without transacting any business.

As soon as it assembled on Monday, the House witnessed uproarious scenes with legislators of different political parties raising slogans in support of Telangana and united Andhra. Subsequently, a resolution was moved by revenue and legislative affairs minister, Dharmana Prasada Rao, to adjourn the house sine die and the speaker adopted it.

With the adjournment of the Assembly, there seems to be no immediate possibility of chief minister, K Rosaiah, moving a resolution in favour of creating a separate Telengana state in the House.

In a related development, Lanco group promoter and Congress MP from Vijayawada, Lagadapati Rajagopal, was arrested in the evening when he sat at Lal Bahadur stadium in protest against the division of the state.

Rajagopal, who arrived here from Delhi in the morning, was taken into preventive custody by the police soon after he landed at the Shamshabad international airport. He was subsequently taken to meet chief minister, K Rosaiah, who urged him to withdraw his proposed indefinite fast.

Incidentally, Lanco Group has huge business interests in Hyderabad.