TDP top Leader holds talks on Telangana

Hyderabad, June 19 (UNI) With the first meeting of the party's core committee on Telangana ending yesterday without taking any concrete decision on the issue of statehood, Telugu Desam Legislature Party Deputy Leader T Devender Goud today held deliberations with senior party leaders from the region.

Considered to be number two in the party after TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu, Mr Goud met veteran party leader Ch Rajeswara Rao and Former Minister E Peddi Reddy among others, sources close to Mr Goud said.

He was also involved in telephonic talks with various Telangana leaders in the party, including Former Minister K Srihari and C Muthyam Reddy on the various options before the TDP on the issue.

The TDP leaders, who were pressing for a early decision on the issue, were weighing the various options available to them.

After the party's poor performance in his home district of Rangareddy in the recent byelections, Mr Goud, with high political stakes, was of the view the TDP should take an early decision on the sensitive issue to improve its prospects in the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

The differences within the party on the key issue came out in the open after Former Minister T Srinivas Yadav, who won the Secunderabad seat in the byelections, declared he campaigned for united Andhra Pradesh in the polls and would continue to do so for the next Assembly elections, too.

On the other hand, TDP leaders from Telangana including Mr Muthyam Reddy and Mr Srihari raised ''Jai Telangana Jai TDP slogans'' in the recent byelections and promised to exert pressure on the party to take a positive decision on the statehood.

Upset with the developments, the TDP president directed his partymen not to air their views on the issue in publicly.

However, party leaders continued to express divergent opinions on the issue, compounding the confusion within the TDP even as Mr Naidu continued to maintain his party was not against Telangana.

UNI SM RL KP2017