MPs and other leaders from Telangana on Wednesday met Guntur MP Kavuri Sambhasiva Rao at his residence in New Delhi to convince him and his colleagues from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions to support their demand of the introduction of a separate statehood bill in the budget session of the Parliament.
Sambhasiva Rao and other Seemandhra MPs are in New Delhi to attend a meeting convened by the Congress high command on Thursday to discuss the Telangana issue before the all-party meeting tentatively scheduled on January 24th or January 25th.
The Seemandhra MPs will meet Congress Core Committee member Pranab Mukherjee, and the options given by Justice Srikrishna Committee in its report on the statehood demand will be discussed.
Talking to media persons later, MP Manda Jagannatham said that the Telangana MPs urged their Seemandhra counterparts to extend cooperation in getting a bill on Telangana introduced.
The Telangana MPs also discussed the 5th and 6th options given by the Srikrishna Committee during their meeting with the Seemandhra MPs.
The Telangana MPs had earlier adopted a resolution to seek the support of Seemandhra leaders over the 5th option which suggested the bifurcation of the state into Telangana and Seemandhra as per the existing boundaries with Hyderabad as the capital of Telangana, and Seemandhra having a new capital.
The meeting was attended by Rajya Sabha Member V Hanumantha Rao, MP Rajaiah, MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar and other leaders.