The protagonists of United Andhra Pradesh in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha from the Congress are united on one point. That they will not resign.
"We will do anything for the cause of keeping Andhra Pradesh united" was a line parroted by everyone but one of the MPs who was present at the meeting of fifteen Congress MPs and Union ministers from Seemandhra on Saturday, revealed extreme reluctance on part of the ministers to resign. "They are not willing to leave the ministry even for a minute," he said.
To an extent, it is understandable too since once they are stripped of the lal batti, they will be left out in the cold. Besides, resignation at this stage is no guarantee that their voters in Seemandhra will return them to the Lok Sabha next year. All of them admit to extreme anger against the Congress party in their regions.
"Our speeches start and end with the Nehru-Gandhi family. Today members of that family are being abused with the choicest of expletives," said another senior MP. "Everyone is talking about how for the sake of a dozen Lok Sabha seats and making Rahul Gandhi the PM, Sonia Gandhi divided the state."
What worries veteran politicians like him is that the very foundations of the Congress have been shaken badly in Seemandhra. "Losing one election does not matter. After all we won two terms. But the anger against the party will not go for a long, long time," he said.
At the meeting, the disinterested and defeatist body language of the MPs and the ministers said it all. Besides coming out with a request to the Antony committee to tour the regions, they had nothing to offer in terms of an action plan. All of them now live in hope that Telangana won't be a reality before 2014 elections, with one of them choosing a metaphor to explain why.
"The baby has been conceived but you need nine months to deliver a healthy child. If you try to hurry up and get it out in five months, you will be left with a still born," the MP explained.
The other option being discussed in hushed tones is whether to break away from the Congress, form a separate party and hope to salvage their individual political future in 2014. But the plan has run into trouble because of a lack of a powerful leader who can marshal the troops to take on YS Jaganmohan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu in Seemandhra. Kiran Kumar Reddy has been making enough noise but none of the MPs consider him leadership material. "He is too much of a loner, who has not been able to take most of his team along since he was made chief minister," said an MP.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the divide, Telangana Congress leaders are keeping a keen eye on what their counterparts are up to. They know that if Telangana state does not become a reality before the elections, people will not trust the Congress with their votes. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating and they want to ensure 'T' is served by redrawing the borders in order to derive maximum electoral mileage next summer.
"We will do anything for the cause of keeping Andhra Pradesh united" was a line parroted by everyone but one of the MPs who was present at the meeting of fifteen Congress MPs and Union ministers from Seemandhra on Saturday, revealed extreme reluctance on part of the ministers to resign. "They are not willing to leave the ministry even for a minute," he said.
To an extent, it is understandable too since once they are stripped of the lal batti, they will be left out in the cold. Besides, resignation at this stage is no guarantee that their voters in Seemandhra will return them to the Lok Sabha next year. All of them admit to extreme anger against the Congress party in their regions.
"Our speeches start and end with the Nehru-Gandhi family. Today members of that family are being abused with the choicest of expletives," said another senior MP. "Everyone is talking about how for the sake of a dozen Lok Sabha seats and making Rahul Gandhi the PM, Sonia Gandhi divided the state."
What worries veteran politicians like him is that the very foundations of the Congress have been shaken badly in Seemandhra. "Losing one election does not matter. After all we won two terms. But the anger against the party will not go for a long, long time," he said.
At the meeting, the disinterested and defeatist body language of the MPs and the ministers said it all. Besides coming out with a request to the Antony committee to tour the regions, they had nothing to offer in terms of an action plan. All of them now live in hope that Telangana won't be a reality before 2014 elections, with one of them choosing a metaphor to explain why.
"The baby has been conceived but you need nine months to deliver a healthy child. If you try to hurry up and get it out in five months, you will be left with a still born," the MP explained.
The other option being discussed in hushed tones is whether to break away from the Congress, form a separate party and hope to salvage their individual political future in 2014. But the plan has run into trouble because of a lack of a powerful leader who can marshal the troops to take on YS Jaganmohan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu in Seemandhra. Kiran Kumar Reddy has been making enough noise but none of the MPs consider him leadership material. "He is too much of a loner, who has not been able to take most of his team along since he was made chief minister," said an MP.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the divide, Telangana Congress leaders are keeping a keen eye on what their counterparts are up to. They know that if Telangana state does not become a reality before the elections, people will not trust the Congress with their votes. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating and they want to ensure 'T' is served by redrawing the borders in order to derive maximum electoral mileage next summer.
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