Cong continues efforts to solve political crisis

Hyderabad, Sep 14 (UNI) Even as the estranged UPA constituent Telangana Rashtra Samiti reiterated its challenge to all Congress MPs and MLAs from Telangana to quit and contest elections afresh, the ruling Congress continued its efforts to persuade TRS Supremo K Chandrasekara Rao to withdraw his resignation from the Lok Sabha.

In response to the resignation letter from the TRS Chief, who had earlier quit as Union Labour Minister and undertaken a fast in New Delhi to press the demand for statehood for Telangana, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee asked Mr Chandrasekhara Rao to meet him in person by September 23, party sources said.

Asking him not to stand on prestige, senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao, who held talks with Pradesh Congress Chief K Keshav Rao at the party headquarters, told reporters it would be appropriate on the part of the TRS Chief to withdraw his resignation.

Senior TRS leader A Narendra maintained that it was not enough if two Congress Ministers decided to resign. All Congress MPs and MLAs from Telangana should quit their respective seats and seek a fresh mandate, he told reporters after visiting drought hit farms in Kamareddy, represented by Energy Minister Md Ali Shabbir.

Mr Shabbir put in his papers after Sports Minister M Satyanarayana Rao picked up the gauntlet and resigned in the wake of Mr Chandrasekara Rao's announcement that he was quitting the Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, Mr Satyanarayana Rao, who accepted the TRS challenge and submitted his resignation to the Chief Minister, told reporters he was ready to take 'political sanyas' if the Party High Command so directed. He would not apologise as the PCC chief had done to mollify the feelings of the TRS Chief, as it was the latter who provoked him, saying he won the Assembly poll only because of TRS support.

Refusing to join issue, Congress Parliamentary party leader G Venkataswamy, who played a key role in the Congress forging ties with the TRS for the last Lok Sabha and Assembly poll, termed as childish the challenge and counter-challenge by leaders of the two parties.

Meanwhile, Congress MP from Nizamabad Madhu Yashki Goud said he would apprise party chief Sonia Gandhi that the Telangana sentiment was very much there. He took a dig at leaders of the Telangana Regional Congress Committee, who demanded formation of Telangana state when the party was in the opposition, for observing silence now aspiring for berths in the ensuing cabinet expansion.

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