Azad to meet Telangana MPs on August 1

HYDERABAD: With just two days left for the monsoon session of the Parliament to begin, AICC general secretary and in-charge of AP Congress affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad wanted the Telangana MPs to withdraw their resignations.All the 10 Telangana Congress MPs, including Rajya Sabha member K Keshava Rao, who had resigned to their posts for T cause, would meet Azad on August 1.Azad, who is keen on preventing any disturbance in Parliament sought to make them see the reason in withdrawing their resignations and refrain from creating scene in Parliament. He reportedly told them to consider his suggestions since he had already started the process of consultations to end the impasse.After hearing that Azad is keen to meet Telangana MPs, the members of the Telangana Congress steering committee went into a huddle at the residence of minister K Jana Reddy and discussed what should be done if Azad asks MPs to withdraw their resignations.Committee chairmen Jana Reddy, MP K Keshava Rao, spokesperson Gutha Sukhender Reddy, members G Vivek, P Prabhakar, S Rajaiah, M Jagannadham, K Rajagopal Reddy, minister B Saraiah, MLAs R Damodar Reddy and Bikshamaiah Goud attended the meeting which lasted for more than three hours.Talking to newsmen later, Sukhender Reddy asserted that they would not go back on resignations. He, however, said that they would meet Azad on Monday and that the steering committee would again meet to discuss the issues to be raised by Azad and to finalise their future course of action. "Till date, our resignations have not been rejected. We will see what Azad would discuss with us at the meeting,'' he said.Madhu Yashki, who met Azad along with two other MPs - Balaram Naik and Suresh Shetkar - in Delhi on Friday, said that they had told Azad that they cannot go back on resignations unless the party comes out with a decision in favour of Telangana.They also told him that their intention was not to embarrass either the party leadership or the government but to secure Telangana state since it is the aspiration of people of the region."Our primary aim is to get Telangana but not to bring down the government. We know that it is our government that would deliver T state. In such a case, why would we bring it down. All we are interested is in Telangana state but not to defy the party leadership," Madhu Yashki said.He also brought to the notice of Azad the strike notice served by the state government employees and how it would paralyse the administration.