HYDERABAD: A day after meeting Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram, the Telangana Congress leaders on Thursday went into a huddle at Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy’s residence in the national capital and decided not to lower their guard.They held talks over lunch and agreed on keeping ready an action plan in case the Centre failed to announce a decision in favour of a separate Telangana. Speaking to reporters, Rajya Sabha member K Keshava Rao said all options were open. “We have our plan of action. It includes going on hunger strikes, resigning or voicing the demand for Telangana in Parliament vociferously,” he said.To make their moves convincing, the MPs, MLAs and Ministers drafted resignation letters to be submitted to the appropriate authorities at an appropriate time. As many as eight MPs handed over the letters to Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar for safe custody.A few ministers and MLAs handed over the letters to Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy. The leaders want to resign on July 10 if the party remains unmoved.Before that, on July 5, they want to go on a hunger strike.Some MPs are of the view that they ought to make their voice heard in Parliament at its next session before submitting resignations.Earlier in the day, they met at MP Komatireddy Rajagopala Reddy’s residence in Delhi and discussed the import of the assurance of “decision in a week” given by Mukherjee. The leaders included six ministers who skipped the cabinet meeting in Hyderabad.The Congress leaders, after the meeting Mukherjee on Wednesday night, had claimed they were left with the impression that the party high command would take a decision favouring bifurcation of the state within a week after party chief Sonia Gandhi returned from abroad. After their meeting at Rajagopala Reddy’s residence, they wrote to Sonia Gandhi and members of the Congress core committee requesting them to settle the Telangana issue by this month-end.Rajagopala Reddy told newsmen that the only Union minister from Telangana - S Jaipal Reddy - had promised to make efforts for an early decision on Telangana. “This is for the first time that Jaipal Reddy has come out openly in support of Telangana. We are hopeful that the party will resolve the issue before the end of this month,” Rajagopala Reddy said and added that they would all meet in Hyderabad on July 1 to chart their course of action.
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