New Delhi : At a  late night meeting with Seemandhra ministers in the Union Council of Ministers yesterday, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh appealed to them not to insist on resigning over the issue of Telangana.
He promised to discuss with Sonia Gandhi setting up of a high-level committee in the party to look into the concerns of people of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.

At the meeting, HRD minister M Pallamraju, and other central ministers D. Purandeshwari, K. Kriparani, J D Seelam and J Suryaprakash Reddy offered to resign “in view of the aggrieved sentiments and public anger in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions”.

“They brought to his notice the resultant anguish arising out of the manner in which the decision of bifurcation was taken without discussing and reflecting the concerns of the people and leaders of the two regions”, a statement issued after the meeting said.

“The issues pertaining to Hyderabad, the proposed new capital, the water sharing, concerns of farmers, students, employees and other interests were discussed.

“Digvijaya Singh suggested that the ministers should be playing a proactive and progressive role in reflecting the concerns and aspirations of the people of two regions in the process of decision making at this crucial juncture and requested them not to insist on the resignations.

“He also urged MPs, MLAs, MLCs not to resign but to raise the issues concerning Seemandhra region more effectively in the assembly and parliament, so that the concern of the people of these regions are addressed in the right perspective.

“He further suggested to constitute a high level committee of the party after discussing with the Congress President to regularly interact in a structured manner with leaders from Seemandhra regions to remove the imbalances, before initiating statutory measures pursuant to the decision (on Telangana)”, the statement said.

Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao Friday said government employees from Rayalaseema and Andhra posted in Telangana would have to go back to their respective regions after the formation of Telangana state.

“They will have to go. There is no other option. They also have to run their government,” he said while alleging that their postings in Telangana over last several years caused grave injustice to local employees.

His comments come even as protests were continuing in the two regions against the central government’s decision to carve out Telangana state. Seemandhra, as the two regions are referred to, is not ready to give up Hyderabad as a large number of migrants are settled here.

For the second consecutive day, Seemandhra employees at state secretariat here staged protest against the division.

Addressing a meeting of Telangana employees, KCR, as Rao is popularly known, said only government employees hailing from Telangana would work for the government of Telangana.

He assured that the government employees in the separate state would get salaries at par with their counterparts in the central government.

The TRS chief said efforts would be made for regularizing contract employees. He assured that the Telangana government would be employee friendly.

KCR denied giving slogan of “Telangana wale jago, Andhra wale bhago”. He said he only wanted those who have grabbed government jobs to leave.

The MP said people of Telangana should be cautious till parliament passes a bill for formation of Telangana state.

Congress Working Committee (CWC) Tuesday asked the central government to take steps for formation of Telangana state. Hyderabad will be the joint capital of the two states for 10 years.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said the process of formation of Telangana state would take four to five months.