Go, Telangana men tell CM

Hyderabad: Alleging that Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy is attempting to derail the process of the formation of Telangana state, Congress ministers and MLAs from the Telangana region have demanded a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party to seek the removal of Reddy from that post.

They also complained to AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh that the Chief Minister deliberately delayed the tabling of the Telangana Bill in the Assembly on Friday.

It was hoped that the Bill would be tabled before the Assembly on Friday, but it reached after the Assembly adjourned and pro-Telangana politicians blamed the CM for deliberately delaying its introduction in the House.

Stating that the people of Telangana had lost confidence in the Chief Minister, deputy CM Damodar Raja Narasimha said, “I am demanding a CLP meeting to seek the removal of Kiran Kumar Reddy from the post.”

T leaders move privilege notice against CS

Demanding the removal of N. Kiran Kumar Reddy from the post of Chief Minister, panchayat raj minister K. Jana Reddy said, “I am expressing my protest over the government’s attitude in delaying tabling the Telangana Bill in the Assembly. This is not good for the government.”

The MLAs blamed chief secretary P.K. Mohanty too. They alleged that Mohanty had not followed the directions of the President in sending the Bill to the Assembly.

Telangana MLAs from the Congress, Telugu Desam, Telangana Rashtra Samiti and CPI gave a privilege notice on the chief secretary to Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar.

In the Legislative Council, too, Congress members belonging to the Telangana region gave a privilege notice on the chief secretary for the same reasons to the Council chairman.

Raja Narasimha was particularly aggrieved as he had made every effort to ensure that the Telangana Bill reached the Assembly before it was adjourned. He had spoken to the chief secretary about the importance of getting the Bill in time.

Rumours had begun circulating in the Assembly lobbies that the Chief Minister had asked the chief secretary not to send the Telangana Bill to the Assembly until he gave the green signal.

Around noon, the chief secretary told Raja Narasimha that he was going to Raj Bhavan to formally hand over the Telangana Bill to the Governor.

He said the Bill would reach the Assembly around 1 pm. Narasimha briefed the media accordingly. However, the Bill did not reach the Assembly till 2 pm, when the House had adjourned for the day.

After the Assembly was adjourned, Telangana ministers and MLAs met at information minister D.K. Aruna’s residence. Raja Narasimha, Jana Reddy, Sunita Laxma Reddy and others attended.

After the meeting, Aruna told the media that they have lost confidence in the Chief Minister and demanded a meeting of the CLP to seek his removal from the post. They then went to Gandhi Bhavan and met Digvijay Singh and told him to change the Chief Minister as Reddy is anti-Telangana.

Earlier, political secretary of the general administration department Shiva Shankar handed over the Telangana Bill to Assembly secretary Raja Sadaram. The Assembly will meet again on Monday.