In a counter-strategy ahead of the draft Telangana bill coming up before the Assembly, the Seemandhra Congress legislators are planning to move a resolution in the House in favour of keeping Andhra Pradesh united.
The senior party MLA J C Diwakar Reddy told reporters in the Assembly premises that they would mobilize support for the move from Seemandra members of other parties.
The strategy appears to be aimed at taking the winds out of the sail of YSR Congress Party which was the first to make such a demand.
In fact, the floor leader of YSRCP Y S Vijayamma raised this demand during the meeting of the Assembly Business Advisory Committee (BAC) chaired by the Speaker Nadendla Manohar on Wednesday.
She walked out of the meeting after her demand was rejected. The Seemandhra Congress legislators caught on the idea and are now pushing it hard. The decision to push for a Samaikyandhra resolution was taken at a meeting of the Seemandhra Congress legislators in which Diwakar Reddy, Gade Venkat Reddy and S Sailajanath and others participated.
Meanwhile, the YSRCP leader Shobha Nagireddy said that a resolution in favour of integrated state can be moved under rule 77 of the Assembly rules and procedures.
"We seek support from all parties," she said.
If such a resolution comes up before the House, it would be interesting to see what stand the Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu takes.
He is caught in a piquant situation. Though Naidu has given a written commitment in favour of formation of separate Telangana, he has been strongly opposing the manner in which the UPA government is going ahead with the bifurcation process.
