Sonia will make statement on T by mid-March: Shankar Rao

Minister For Handlooms And Textiles P Shankar Rao on Friday stated that Congress president Sonia Gandhi would make a statement on Telangana state formation in the first or second week of March.

Talking to media persons at Assembly Media Point, the Minister said that Ms Gandhi would stand by the announcement of Home Minister P Chidambaram issued on December 9, 2009.

He called upon Telangana activists not to resort to suicides and take any other extreme steps for the separate statehood. 

Expressing confidence that Hyderabad would be retained in the Telangana region, Dr Shankar Rao stated that the Centre had already held talks with Telangana Congress leaders apart from Telugu Desam Party and Telangana Rashtra Samithi leaders over the issue.

Meanwhile, sources say that the Telangana Congress MLAs and MLCs have decided to submit their resignations from their posts in the wake of pressure mounting on them from other pro-Telangana parties. The sources say that the decision to submit resignations was made after Congress leaders on Friday met to discuss the developments in this connection. The venue of the meeting is not yet known.

The Telangana Congress leaders have already made clear that they will write a letter to Ms Gandhi seeking her appointment in the first week of March. They are believed to have decided that they would given an ultimatum to the Congress president that they would resign if the Centre continues to delay Telangana issue further.