Rahul Gandhi assures justice to Seemandhra

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Monday assured central ministers and party MPs from Seemandhra that justice would be done to their region while carving out separate Telangana state.

With Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 coming up for debate in Lok Sabha Tuesday, Gandhi held a meeting with Seemandhra MPs to seek their cooperation in passing the bill.

Union Minister of State for Finance J.D. Seelam told reporters after the meeting that they submitted their demands in writing. "We hope that our demands will be considered," he said.

The demands include making Hyderabad a union territory for a specific period, sharing of revenue of Hyderabad between Telangana and Seemandhra and special packages for north coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.

Central ministers Kishore Chandra Deo, K.S. Rao, M.M. Pallam Raju, D. Purandeswari and others attended the meeting. Minister of state for railways K. Suryaprakash Reddy did not attend.

Congress general secretary incharge of party affairs in the state Digvijaya Singh and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, who is a key member of Group of Ministers on Telangana, were also present.

As some central ministers and Congress MPs from Seemandhra Monday staged protest in Lok Sabha over the issue of bifurcation, the ruling party began the efforts to placate them.