Telangana: Congress leaders to intensify stir

HYDERABAD: Having failed to get concrete response from the Centre on the separate Telangana demand following their en masse resignations, Congress leaders from the region are planning to intensify their agitation by roping in local leaders.The Telangana Congress leaders are holding a meeting here tomorrow and district and mandal-level leaders from across the region have been invited.The meeting would review the developments so far and decide the future course of action, Congress MP Ponnam Prabhakar said today.The Telangana MPs, MLAs and MLCs held a 48-hour fast last week to highlight their cause.Though the party MPs, MLAs and MLCs had quit their posts in a bid to mount pressure on the Centre for formation of separate Telangana, the top leadership of Congress has only indicated that it plans to initiate a consultation process.Congress in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad had remarked that consensus and passing a resolution in the assembly is necessary for the formation of a separate state which upset the Telangana Congress leaders.Taking serious exception to the comments of Azad, some of the Telangana Congress leaders demanded that he step down as in-charge of party affairs in the state.They also indicated that they would intensify their stir for separate statehood if no concrete step is taken by the end of this month.Asserting that there is no question of taking back their resignations, Congress MP K Keshava Rao had earlier said they would agitate for separate Telangana, along with students and employees, if no "reply" came from the Centre and the high command by July 31.