Anti-Telangana people should "obey" Cong decision on statehood

Hyderabad, Jul 20: Pointing out that the Congress has always remained committed to the creation of Telangana state and had also taken a ''decision'' in this regard, senior minister of Andhra Pradesh Ponnala Lakshmaiah posed 18 questions to "anti-Telangana people" today seeking to know why they were opposing the bifurcation now.

Ponnala, in an open letter, questioned why the "anti-Telangana people" did not raise any objection when the Andhra Pradesh state Assembly passed a resolution on February 12, 2009 stating that the "government has no objection to the formation of Telangana state in principle."

Ponnala, who was among the 12 ministers from Telangana in the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet who resigned from the membership of the state Assembly on July 4, directed his questions mainly at his party colleagues from Andhra-Rayalaseema regions even as the latter intensified lobbying in New Delhi in support of a unified state.

He questioned why no objections were raised when all political parties included the Telangana issue in their election manifestos during 2009 elections and when the Congress Legislature Party passed a resolution in December 2009 authorising the party high command on the formation of a separate state.

Why did anybody not raise any objection when the Congress party entered into an electoral alliance in 2004 with other parties (read Telangana Rashtra Samiti) with the ''single point agenda'' of (creating) a separate state and incorporated the Telangana issue in the election manifesto, Ponnala asked.

The "anti-Telangana people" should realise that the Congress high command "has already taken a decision" on the issue, Ponnala claimed and "advised" everyone to "obey" it in the light of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement on December 9, 2009.

PTI