Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI, 7 AUG: The Congress today constituted a four-member committee headed by Defence Minister A K Antony to hear concerns arising out of the decision to create a separate Telangana state.
“Congress President Sonia Gandhi has constituted a four-member committee to hear the concerns being expressed arising out of the decision to form a new state of Telangana,” AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi announced.
Following the announcement on Telangana, there have been similar statehood demands in various parts of the country.
Besides Mr Antony, Union minister M Veerappa Moily, who had once been the in-charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, current AICC in-charge Digvijay Singh and political secretary to Congress President Ahmed Patel are members of the panel.
The decision was announced at a time when the issue is creating problems for the government in Parliament since Monsoon session began on 5 August. The Opposition has been saying that the Congress was not being able to control its own members.
Seven Union ministers from the Seemandhra region had met the Congress President last night and apprised her of the “sense of deprivation” prevailing in Andhra and Rayalseema regions over the Telangana decision.
During the meeting, Mrs Gandhi told them that a committee of senior leaders will be formed, which will look into their grievances, as the ministers told her about apprehensions among people in their constituencies.
During the meeting, the ministers, including Mr M M Pallam Raju, Mr K S Rao, K Chiranjeevi, Mr J D Seelam, Ms Panabaka Lakshmi, Mr D Purandheswari and Mr Kruparani Killi, are learnt to have raised the demand that Hyderabad should be retained as permanent common capital of two Telugu-speaking states on the lines of Chandigarh.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Chiranjeevi said Mrs Gandhi assured them that the grievances of the people from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions will be taken care of.
Mr Raju had said “our people are feeling insecure because of some of the pronouncements made by Telangana leaders and there is feeling of deprivation… We represented those matters. She wanted us to express our opinion to the committee…”