Cong MPs protest against absence of T mention in Presidential address

Congress Mps from Andhra Pradesh on Monday brought the contentious separate Telangana statehood issue to the fore at the opening day of the Budget Session of Parliament by displaying placards with the slogans of ‘Jai Telangana’ and ‘We Want Telangana’ during the end of President Pratibha Patil's 45-minute Address to the Joint Sitting of both Houses.

The MPs however returned to their seats without further protests as soon as Vice President Hamid Ansari rose to address the Joint Sitting.

Later, the MPs staged a protest at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex against the absence of any mention of Telangana in the President’s address on the first day of the Budget Session.

About a dozen Congress Mps participated in the dharna where they held aloft placards on which ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans were scribbled. Some ‘Jai Congress’ slogans were also seen, besides the ones which said, “We Want Telangana.”

Leading the protestors was Congress Working Committee member K Keshav Rao who said that the MPs had resorted to the dharna due to lack of any mention by the President in her address.

Manda Jagganath, Anjan Kumar Yadav and others gave Mr Keshav Rao company.

The protesting MPs were however quick to point out that the Congress was committed to the separate statehood demand and had already included this in its election manifesto.

Mr Keshav Rao said that the party had already clarified that it would create a separate Telangana state in its Common Minimum Programme, apart from the party adopting a resolution in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

The CWC member however said that the road to Telangana was taking a long time to cover since differences had cropped up and some parties had turned back on their commitment after the famous December 9, 2009 declaration by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram. He expressed confidence that the Congress will be able to sort out the differences.

Mr Keshav Rao also lashed out at other parties for ‘not being serious on the separate statehood issue.’ He said that AICC president Sonia Gandhi alone would ‘give’ Telangana.