No harsh words against Seemandhra people: Sonia to Telangana leaders

New Delhi, Feb 21: Congress President

today told leaders from

to reach out to people of

and not to use harsh words against them.

Gandhi conveyed this to a delegation of union ministers, MPs and state ministers from Telangana which met her to express gratitude over parliament's approval to formation of a separate state.

Those who met Gandhi included union ministers Sarvey Satyanarayana and Balram Naik, a dozen MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha including Ponnam Prabhakar and Madhu Yakshi Goud and state ministers from Telangana region. Members of Telangana Joint Action Committee, chaired by M Kodandaram, also met Gandhi.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Madhu Yakshi Goud said Gandhi told them that when Congress has done justice to the people of Telangana, party leaders from the region should ensure that no injustice is done to the people from Seemandhra region.

"She also asked us to reach out to people from Seemandhra and ensure that we do not use any harsh words against them as people from both regions have been living together for a long time," he said. Replying to queries about possibilities of merger of TRS with Congress, Sarvey Satyanarayana said "we are expecting TRS to join us."

"K Chandrasekhar Rao (TRS Chief) has been saying that he would work with Congress President Sonia Gandhi if Telangana is created. Now the Bill has come and there is no reason for him to continue as a separate entity," he said.

Former AICC Secretary P Sudhakar Reddy, who was also part of the delegation, said "we conveyed our thanks to the Congress President." "It was a dream for decades and now Telangana has become a reality. We have seen it as natural justice to Telangana. The Congress President has told us to maintain a coordial relations with people from Seemandhra region," Reddy said.

Telangana is all set to become 29th state of India with parliament yesterday approving the bill to carve it out of Andhra Pradesh.

PTI