T MPs meet Seemandhra MPs in Delhi to seek support on Bill

MPs and other leaders from the Telangana on Wednesday met Guntur MP Kavuri Sambhasiva Rao at his residence in New Delhi to convince him and his colleagues from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions to support their demand of introduction of a separate statehood Bill in the Budget Session of Parliament.

Mr Sambhasiva Rao and other Seemandhra MPs are in New Delhi to attend a meeting convened by the Congress High Command on Thursday to discuss the Telangana issue before the all-party meeting tentatively scheduled on January 24 or 25.

The Seemandhra MPs will meet Congress Core Committee member Pranab Mukherjee and the options given by Justice Srikrishna Committee in its Report on the statehood demand.

Talking to media persons later, MP Manda Jagannatham said that the Telangana MPs urged their Seemandhra counterparts to extend cooperation in getting a Bill on Telangana introduced.

The Telangana MPs also discussed the fifth and sixth options given by the Srikrishna Committee during their meeting with the Seemandhra MPs.

The Telangana MPs had earlier adopted a resolution to seek the support of Seemandhra leaders over the fifth option which suggests bifurcation of the State into Telangana and Seemandhra as per existing boundaries with Hyderabad as the capital of Telangana and Seemandhra to have a new capital.

The meeting was attended by Rajya Sabha Member V Hanumantha Rao, MP Rajaiah, MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar and other leaders.