Why Telangana Congress MLAs are stranded at home

The non-conclusive report of the Srikrishna committee has caused more problems for the Congress legislators from Telangana than the people of the region who have been fighting for this cause for several decades.

Nearly 60 Congress MLAs from the Telangana had to sit back in Hyderabad and could not visit their respective constituencies, as protestors stood guard outside their houses.

Take the case of Sudarshan Reddy, irrigation minister in the Andhra Pradesh government. He hails from the Bodan constituency in Nizamabad district and was supposed to return to his home constituency on Saturday. However, he advised against it due to the protests outside his house.

This is the case of all MLAs from the Congress belonging to the Telangana region.

Professor Kodandaram, chief of political Joint Action Committee, told rediff.com that the Congress was just issuing statements and never really did anything on the ground. If they do not act soon they will face a social boycott and will be wiped out from

their constituencies, he added.

These Congress leaders, however, said that they were not backing out and had issued an ultimatum to the Union government. They decided to wait until February for the government to table the Bill on Telangana, failing which they would all tender their resignations.

One of the Telangana Congress leaders said that this time they could not take it easy. The movement is gaining a lot of momentum and if we do not act soon, they it could well be the end of our political careers.

The Congress in Andhra Pradesh has already started working out the numbers in case the MLAs resign. They will be reduced to a wafer thin majority if the 60 MLAs quit. In addition to this they are also thinking over time about the Jagan factor.

TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao's statement is also worrying them. He had said that there would be a mid term poll in which Jagan would sweep Rayalseema while the TRS would sweep Telangana. Political observers are treating this statement as a possible alliance between the two even as both camps suggest that no such thing is cooking.