Ministerial Berths Lure Back T Congress MLAs

Around fifteen Congress MLAs from the Telangana region, said to be aspiring for ministerial berths in the upcoming cabinet reshuffle, met at a hotel in Hyderabad on Friday. Critical of their seniors and the steering committee of the Telangana Congress, they have decided not to antagonize the party leadership in New Delhi and chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy. They decided to go slow on the Telangana movement in the hope that they would find a place in the cabinet in the reshuffle that is expected soon.

The MLAs said they would participate in the Rachchabanda programme with the idea of pleasing the chief minister. However, they decided to boycott the AP Formation Day celebrations on November 1. It is for the first time that the Telangana Congress MLAs met after the total withdrawal of the Sakala Janula Samme by the state government employees. At maximum, the MLAs said they would go to New Delhi and sit on a fast for a day or two if no positive decision on Telangana is forthcoming before the winter session.

The MLAs urged the state government to come to the aide of the farmers who lost their standing crop due to disruption in the power supply during the strike. "The state government should offer them help in the form of input subsidy," Bhupalpalli MLA Gandra Venkataramana Reddy told the media. The MLAs also urged the government to withdraw all the cases booked against the employees during the 42-day long Sakala Januala Samme. The MLAs present in the meeting were K Laxma Reddy, G Prasad Kumar, B Raji Reddy, Pratap Reddy, VM Abraham, T Narsa Reddy, A Pravin Reddy, A Mohan, Somarapu Satyanarayana, Gandra Venkataramana Reddy, M Kavitha, T Rajaiah, K Sridhar, Balu Naik, Bikshapati Goud, T Lingaiah, and Rega Kantha Rao.