Telangana fallout: Upset Cong leaders to meet tomorrow

Upset over the decision to form Telangana state, some Union Ministers and Congress MPs from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions will have a strategy meeting here tomorrow to chalk out their plan of action to "try and restrain" the Union government from implementing it.

The anti-Telangana Congress ministers and MPs, who are around 25 in number, have been holding informal consultations ever since the Congress Working Group (CWC) took the decision last night, sources said here today.

They unhappy leaders include Textiles Minister K Sambhasiva Rao and MPs Lagadapati Rajagopal, Ananta Venkatarama Reddy and V Aruna Kumar.

A few of them are even considering resigning from their membership in the Parliament "if that could help halt" the creation of Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh, sources indicated.

"It is a deep crisis. We are going to meet tomorrow. A collective decision will be taken on how to handle this situation," a senior MP who is among the organisers for the meet told PTI requesting anonymity.

V Aruna Kumar told PTI that "Everything including the idea of a shared capital for 10 years is vague."

He said, "We have to wait for the Bill to be tabled (in Parliament).

Talking to reporters, Venkatarama Reddy described the Telangana decision as "unfortunate" and said "We did not expect this."

He said the Centre must have a "rethink" on the decision and consider the views of those from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.

Andhra Pradesh has 42 MPs in the Lok Sabha. While Telangana region accounts for 17 MPs, the rest are from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. Congress party has the lion's share of MPs from Seemandhra region in the Lok Sabha.