Clarify stand on Telangana : Mukesh Goud to CM, DS

The top echelons of the state Congress party were taken aback on Thursday when Backward Classes Welfare Minister Mukesh Goud demanded that Chief Minister K Rosaiah and Pradesh Congress Committee president D Srinivas spell out their stand on Telangana.

According to sources, Mr Goud’s question caught both Mr Rosaiah and Mr Srinivas off guard. The Chief Minister washed his hands off the responsibility of answering Mr Goud’s question and put the ball in the court of the party High Command.

The Minister’s query came at a PCC meeting held at Gandhi Bhavan, where he said that a clear stand by the party leaders on the contentious Telangana issue is necessary as the fence-sitting was denting the party’s image in the region.

Mr Goud said, “the party’s image is being dented badly in Telangana. To revive party image, the party should make its stand clear on Telangana.”

Mr Rosaiah was quick to recover from the unexpected question. He immediately said that government has appointed the Srikrishna Commission to look into issue. Mr Rosaiah added, “I will react only after Srikrishna Commission submits its report to the Centre. It is not good to make statements before the submission of the Commission’s report. If anybody has objections, they can raise them before the High Command.”

Later, Health and Family Welfare Minister Danam Nagender criticized the airing of anti-party statements by some leaders. He said that these statements, made openly against the High Command and the Chief Minister before media are further denting the party image.

He appealed to PCC chief to initiate disciplinary action against the leaders airing their views.

Responding to the demands of disciplinary action, the PCC chief and Mr Rosaiah asked Mr Nagender to cooperate with PCC and submit the names of these leaders with substantial evidence to initiate disciplinary action against them.

Warangal DCC president Gandra Venkataramana Reddy urged the Chief Minister and the PCC chief not to give any chance to the Opposition to target the welfare schemes initiated by the government.

When some leaders demand that the PCC fill nominated posts, the Chief Minister assured the leaders that he would take a decision on this soon after holding discussions with concerned officials and leaders.