'JAC split' cooked by media: Damodar

Hyderabad, Jan 22: Senior Congress leader and MLA Ramreddy Damodar Reddy on Friday blamed media barons from Andhra and Rayalseema regions for reports appearing in a section of the press that Congress leaders from Telangana region were quitting the the Joint Action Committee.Mr Reddy said the stories alleging the split in the JAC were designed to weaken the morale of those fighting for Telangana state. Such concocted reports appeared in some newspapers owned by leaders from Andhra region, he said and condemned the stories and asked the ‘anti-Telangana’ newspapers to desist from publishing such stories.

He said if these newspapers did not stop publishing such stories, people from Telangana would boycott those papers.Mr Damodar Reddy said Congress leaders were part of the JAC and claimed that the party was the first to form the JAC. Congress leaders from Telangana have decided to constitute a Political Action Committee having representation from every district.Reddy revealed that all Congress MLAs and MLCs from Telangana region would leave for New Delhi on January 26 to meet the Congress High Command and pressurise it to concede to their demand by the January 28 deadline set by the JAC.