16 Andhra ministers from Telengana seek meeting with Sonia

New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI) With controversy over Telanganadeepening, 16 Andhra Pradesh ministers from the region havesought an "urgent" audience with Congress President SoniaGandhi saying any delay will be detrimental to the party andthere was "no option" to a separate Telangana.

In the joint memorandum to Gandhi, the ministers said theMPs from Telangana had already presented their case before thetop leadership and made no secret of their "uncompromisingstand" on a separate state.

"This should be an indicator of the ground reality. Anydelay will be detrimental to the interest of the party and thestate... there is no alternative to separate state ofTelangana," the ministers said.

The leaders said the position of Telangana ministers is"precarious" and they can neither allow the party to bealienated nor abdicate their responsibilities "so long as weare in position".

Referring to the recent developments, including studentsagitation and non-cooperation movement by government employeesin Telangana, the ministers said resort of police action orrepressive measures are no answer to public fury and will notonly alienate Congress but will also deepen social tension.

"Any harsh action by the government will alienate thepeople from us. We are prepared to take up the task ofconvincing Andhra brethren over the futility on continuing tolive together in such a distrustful and agonistic manner,"they said.

The ministers also appealed to the Central government toimmediately intervene and appeal to agitators to call offtheir non-cooperation as there is "near 100 per cent"participation by government employees of Telangana region init, "seriously affecting functioning of the government".

About 15 MLAs of Congress from Telangana today joinedtheir TRS and TDP colleagues in disrupting proceedings of thestate Assembly on the issue and forced adjournment of theHouse for the day without transacting any business.