"PM Doesn't Need Permission"

All India Congress Committee secretary and MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar, on Friday, said that there was no need for Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to take anybody's permission to visit the Telangana region.

Talking to media persons, Sudhakar condemned the statements of Bharatiya Janata Party state president G Kishen Reddy and Telangana Political Joint Action Committee chairman Kodandaram, that Prime Minister should not visit Telangana without making his stand on the statehood issue clear.

Describing their statements as "unwarranted and unfortunate", he said that anybody could visit any place in the country, and that there was no need for permission from anybody in this regard.

"The Constitution of India has provided freedom to all citizens to visit any place in the country, and no one can raise any objection," he said.

Stressing that the Centre would take a "favourable decision" on the Telangana issue, he said that leaders of the region must observe restraint till the emergence of a clear decision.

He demanded that the government order a probe against Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu for his alleged involvement in the Emaar scam.

Ponguleti took a serious note of YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy seeking a narco test on CBI Joint Director Lakshminarayana instead of on Jagathi Publications vice-chairman Vijay Sai Reddy.

He wanted to know why Jagan, who had claimed that he was ready for any kind of probe, was afraid of a CBI inquiry. Instead of facing the probe boldly, Ponguleti said, Jagan was trying to damage the image of the prime probing agency by issuing baseless statements against it. (INN)