No going back on resignations: Telengana leaders

HYDERABAD: Reiterating that the Telangana Congress public representatives would not go back on resignations issue, Telangana Congress steering committee which met here on Saturday finalised a fresh round of protest programmes across the region.Speaking to newsmen after the steering committee meeting at the residence of Rajya Sabha member K Keshava Rao here, committee spokespersons MP G Sukhender Reddy and MLA G Venkata Ramana Reddy asserted that there was no change in the decision taken by the committee earlier. They said the MPs will not attend  Parliament and ministers do not attend their duties. “The status-quo will continue as far as resignations of MPs and state ministers are concerned,’’ he said.The Telangana MPs have boycotted the Parliament session even after the party high command had issued a whip directing the members to take part in the voting on price rise issue.  ‘’Nothing would happen if the members do not take part in a one-day debate.  In fact, the call attention motion on Telangana figured in the Parliament because of our resignations,’’ Sukhender Reddy  claimed.Asked about former chief minister K Rosaiah’s appeal to suspend the Telangana agitation till the recovery of Sonia Gandhi, the Nalgonda MP asserted that they were not in a position to listen to such appeals. “We are hopeful that Sonia Gandhi will recover fully and implement the statement made on December 9, 2009,’’ he added.Replying to another query whether the MLAs would again submit their resignations to Assembly speaker, Sukhender Reddy said the steering committee would take a decision later on the issue. According to Venkata Ramana Reddy, the Telangana Congress activists would pay tributes to the Telangana martyrs in all Assembly segments in the region on August 9.The Congress leaders would also observe one-day hunger-strike in Hyderabad on  August 11, protesting the delay in deletion of clause 14 (f) from  the Presidential Order.They would hoist the ‘Telangana flag’ along with the national Tricolour on the Independence Day, he said.