Seven Telangana Congress MPs stage protest

On the first day of the winter session of Parliament in New Delhi on Thursday, the Congress high command had to face an embarrassing situation for its indecisiveness over Telangana issue.

Defying their party’s diktat, seven Congress MPs from the Telangana did not attend the House in protest against their party leadership’s dilly-dallying over according statehood to their region.

The MPs _ Ponnam Prabhakar, Manda Jagannadham, Gutta Sukhender Reddy, Madhu Yaskhi Goud, Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, G Vivekanand and Siricilla Rajaiah _ even staged a sit-in at the main entrance of Parliament House, demanding creation of a separate state.

They shouted slogans in support of their demand and staged a sit-in for around 30 minutes just before the House met on the opening day of the winter session.

They even demanded that a bill be introduced in the winter session.

The MPs also carried placards which read ‘Delay is denial of Telangana’ and ‘Implement UPA’s promise of formation of Telangana state’.

 LALU BACKS PROTEST

When the MPs were staging the dharna, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav patted them on their back and extended his support for their demand for a separate Telangana state.

Speaking to reporters later, Ponnam, Manda and Gutta made it clear that they would continue their protest demonstrations in front of the Parliament House