Cong MPs from Telangana won't celebrate Dussehra

New Delhi: Congress MPs from Telangana are stepping up pressure on the Centre for a separate state by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh. The MPs from the Telangana region have decided not to celebrate Dussehra this year to protest against the delay in the formation of the new state.

Senior Congress MP V Hanumantha Rao after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the Telangana state issue made the announcement.

Singh assured the Congress MPs from Telangana that their demands would be put before party chief Sonia Gandhi and Congress Core Committee.

Congress leaders from Telangana region have been camping in Delhi for the last few days to press for the demand of separate statehood.

Congress is caught in a tricky situation in Andhra Pradesh with Telangana region observing an indefinite bandh over the issue of separate statehood, a demand being opposed by the party in coastal Andhra and Rayalseema regions of the state.

The Telangana agitation, now in its 21st day, has crippled normal life in Andhra Pradesh.

The Central Government has been buying time saying the issue is a complex one and needs detailed discussion.

Living up to Home Minister P Chidambaram's assurance of finding a solution to the Telangana agitation, an all-party meeting was held in the capital on October 1 to discuss the issue.

Congress' Andhra Pradesh in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad whose report on the issue was found inconclusive, was present at the meet along with Defence Minister AK Antony and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, among others.

Meanwhile, Bringing his fight for a separate Telangana to the national capital, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao stages a sit-in at Rajghat, rejecting Centre's decision to hold "further consultations".

A day after he sat on a token fast at Rajghat on Gandhi Jayanti, Rao is also likely to meet the Prime Minister over the issue on Monday.

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