Even as the all-party meeting on the separate statehood issue is nearing, the word Telangana was taboo at the Congress state-level executive meeting held Sunday, much to the chagrin of leaders from the region.
Published: 17th December 2012 08:52 AM | Last Updated: 17th December 2012 08:52 AM
Even as the all-party meeting on the separate statehood issue is nearing, the word Telangana was taboo at the Congress state-level executive meeting held Sunday, much to the chagrin of leaders from the region.
At the meeting which lasted more than nine hours, neither the AICC state in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad nor PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana who presided over the convention, broached the subject in their speeches. The Congress leaders from the region had to be content with observing two-minutes of silence for the Telangana martyrs and the victims of Nilam cyclone.
The situation, however, was not without protests. As soon as the convention began at 11.00 a.m. at the LB Stadium, MP Ponnam Prabhakar broke the silence on the issue, asking the leaders to pay respect to the martyrs of Telangana. But Botcha said: “The state witnessed agitations in all the regions. In those agitations, people from all the regions lost their lives.”
His statement was met with anger and full-throated ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans. The tension prevailed for five minutes after which the PCC chief asked the leaders to observe one-minute silence for those who lost their lives either due to agitations or the Nilam cyclone.
Peeved at being clubbed with a natural disaster, several party workers started raising slogans again and calmed down only after being appealed to do so by minister K Jana Reddy.
Prabhakar once again broached the subject at around 12.30 p.m. and again received a swift ‘no’, leading to more slogans and protests. Finally Azad had to intervene and led the assembly of leaders in observing two-minutes of silence for the martyrs and cyclone victims. The PCC chief too then made a postscript mention of the issue in his concluding speech.
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