Cong caught in Telengana tangle

NEW DELHI: The Congress’ dilemma on Telengana statehood is set to deepen even as the party fumbles to find a way out of the embarrassing situation created by inner-party clashes between supporters and opponents of a separate state.

Congress MPs and MLAs from Telengana are exerting pressure on the party-high command to come out with some sort of assurance on the statehood issue at an emergency meeting of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Wednesday in Hyderabad.

This, it is felt, is needed given the Telengana Rashtra Samithi’s (TRS) robust campaign after it announced its decision to quit the UPA government. Wednesday’s meeting, which is intended as a damage-control exercise by the party given the open fight between Congress MPs S Satyanarayana from Telengana and L Rajagopal from Vijaywada in the coastal region on the statehood issue, will see Congress MPs and MLAs from across the state asking for the party’s stand on Telengana to be specified, sources said. “We want the party to take a stand on the issue,” said a Congress MP from the state.

Wednesday’s meeting will be attended by all party MPs, MLAs, PCC office bearers and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of the state Mr Digvijay Singh. The Congress has refused to take a stand on the statehood question so far, even though it has not discouraged its Telengana leaders from making loud statements in support of the statehood cause.

However, at the same time, the party has been claiming that there is no national consensus on the statehood question. It is clear though that the party was caught unawares as the rumblings on the issue within the party suddenly flared up. Mr Rajagopal was allegedly roughed up by activists of pro-Telengana and Dalit organisations who demanded an apology from him for making “disparaging, anti-Dalit” remarks against Mr Satyanarayana.

With Telengana and Dalit angles being added to what was essentially an internal squabble, the party is now caught in a political storm that is threatening to intensify in the coming days. During Wednesday’s meeting, Mr Singh is expected to counsel restraint and appeal to the warring factions in the state not to precipitate matters as the TRS was “bent upon exploiting the situation to flare up regional passions.”