'Cong and Sonia had never gone back on their word'

Hyderabad, Aug 23: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today asserted that neither the Congress party nor the party President Sonia Gandhi had ever gone back on their word as alleged by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).

The Chief Minister, who spoke to newspersons here after the TRS stalled the proceedings of the state assembly, released a document signed by TRS senior leader and former Union Minister A Narendra, accepting the formation of the Second States' Reorganisation Committee (SRC) to decide the formation of Telangana state.

He said Congress still stuck to that agreement.

Dr Reddy reminded the TRS that it were the Congresspersons from the region who first took up the cause of Telangana and asserted that they had done so as development of the region was dismal during the erstwhile TDP region.

Admitting that there was Telangana sentiment among the people of the region, Dr Reddy said his government was doing everything possible for the development of the region and the funds being allocated were even more than what was due according to the proportion of the region's population.

Dr Reddy said the government was making solid investments in the Irrigation sector to make the region overcome the chronic draught situation.

He said due to the efforts of the government and the effective implementation of the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, not a single family had migrated from Mahabubnagar, a district known for migrations during dry spells.

Dr Reddy said the government was also making efforts for rapid industrialisation of the Telangana region and employment generation.

Efforts were also on to improve power supply position in the region.

Replying to a question, Dr Reddy said the issue of formation of a separate Telangana state was left to the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who was observing the situation.

He said Ms Gandhi had been observing the special attention being paid by the present Congress government towards Telangana and would take her own decision at the appropriate time. It might take an year or an year-and-a-half for this and when it is taken, the decision of Ms Gandhi would be binding on his government and the partymen, he added.

Dr Reddy also read out a newspaper statement of the TRS Chief and former Union Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao that the Congress government in the state was making good efforts for the development of Telangana. He also read out the statement of the TRS Supremo stating that formation of a separate state was not easy and would take time.

UNI