Botcha dares TDP to play its Telangana card

HYDERABAD: Likening the Congress to the “father of a joint family,” APCC president Botcha Satyanarayana said his high command would consult all political parties before taking a final decision on the Telangana issue. If the other parties do not disclose their views, the Congress would still reveal its mind, he added.At a meet-the-press programme organised by the Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ) on Wednesday, Satyanarayana said there was no change in his own stance on the Telangana issue, which is that there’s nothing wrong in creating a separate state if the people of the region desired it. However, being president of the state Congress, it was his responsibility to abide by whatever decision is taken by the Congress high command. He said he would place all the facts of the matter before the Centre and the party high command. “I have no regional feelings. I want the Centre to take an early decision keeping the state’s interests in view,” he said.The APCC chief said the TDP, which has a 30 percent vote share in the state, should clearly spell out its stance on the sensitive issue. “I will also ask the Centre to take some decision on Telangana.The party leadership is also of the same view,’’ he added.Answering a query on the local body elections, Satyanarayana made it clear his party would not treat them as a verdict on the Congress government’s functioning in the state. The party, however, would take corrective measures to improve its performance if the poll results were negative. Only a general election can be a referendum on a government’s performance,’’ he said.Satyanarayana asserted that the Congress was gearing up to tackle the opposition.The chief minister would shortly fill up nominated posts. The whole PCC would soon be recast to strengthen it from the grassroots up. Unless the rebel MLAs in the Congress fell in line, the leadership would not hesitate to crack the whip on them. But that would take some time as the issue was before the speaker.“The party and its policies are important, not personalities.Any human being or an organisation should have some target, and should make efforts to reach it. In the government, the chief minister is our leader, and as for party it is Sonia Gandhi.I am only a coordinator,” he added.