Hyderabad: In a surprise move, Telangana Congress leaders who have been issuing statements in favour of the TRS and its leader K. Chandrasekhar Rao, on Saturday decided to take him on in order to build an effective Opposition in the Telangana region without leaving the space to Telugu Desam Party.
The Telangana Congress leaders who met at TPCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah residence on Saturday, finally decided to play a constructive opposition role but in a manner to gain the confidence of Telangana people by 2019. “If we still go supporting KCR and the TRS, there will be no political advantage for the Congress to gain in the region and it is likely TDP president Chandrababu Naidu, the strong opponent of KCR will try to gather mileage. So we have decided to play a constructive role besides being an effective opposition in the region,” said a Congress MLA from Khammam.
The meeting also decided to oppose the Polavaram ordinance issued by the Narendra Modi government recently, and termed this as anti-Telangana and anti-tribal. The meeting opposed the merger of 205 villages of seven mandals in Khammam district into Seemandhra state, though the same ordinance was drafted and approved by Dr Manmohan Singh’s cabinet on March 1.
Meanwhile Ponnala wrote to Telangana Chief Minister-in-waiting K. Chandrasekhara Rao urging him to take action in installing statues of great leaders and scholars of Telangana region on the Tank Bund. Ponnala in another letter to Narendra Modi requested him not to change the name of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad.
He mentioned the statements of TDP President Chandrababu Naidu and union civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapati Raju announcing they are going to change the name to NTR.
Ponnala said such efforts would hurt the feelings of millions of Congress workers and it would be an insult to a departed leader who sacrificed his life for the sake of the country.
In another development, the meeting of legislators unanimously passed a resolution authorising the Congress President Ms Sonia Gandhi to name the legislature party leaders in both assembly and council who will in turn act as leaders of opposition in Telangana.
There were suggestions that it would be better if they decided among themselves without referring the matter to the Congress high command. But there was an opposition for this move, who told the seniors that it would not be proper for the Congress party to deviate from tradition that too when the Congress high command announced separate Telangana state risking its electoral fortunes in the state.
The Congress legislators will meet on June 3 wherein AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and former union minister Vayalar Ravi are expected to attend.
