July 9: Fearing a backlash on his home turf, the four-month-old YSR Congress party led by Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has taken a neutral stand on the contentious Telangana statehood issue.
At the end of the two-day plenary of the party on Saturday, Mr Jagan said that his party will respect the sentiments of the people of Telangana for statehood, but he has limited options, and creating a state or not is for the Centre to decide keeping in view the feelings of all regions of the state. He blamed the Centre for the state being on the boil when as per the statute, it is their responsibility either to reject or grant statehood.
Leaders of the YSR Congress Party from Telangana are not happy with the policy statement as they were expecting a strong pro-Telangana stance. Sources close to Mr Reddy say that as president of the party, he cannot be pro or anti any one region.
Meanwhile, the TRS, floor leader, Mr Etela Rajender, criticised Mr Jagan for failing to support Telangana.
“Jagan babu is like other Andhra babus, Chiranjeevi babu and Chandrababu. He promised the moon to people... pensions, jobs etc., but did not say whether he supports Telangana or not.
