Is Congress toying with the idea of Union Territory status to Hyderabad?

By Soroor Ahmed

Though a large number of MPs, MLAs and ministers in the Andhra Pradesh government hailing from Telangana region, cutting across the party lines, quit their respective posts and seats on Monday those hailing from the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad decided against their party leadership.

Reports emanating both from New Delhi and Hyderabad suggest that the UPA government, in a move to weaken the movement for separate Telangana, is toying with the idea of giving Union Territory status to the twin-cities.

Ten Congress MPs––nine Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha––and 39 of its MLAs, including 11 ministers, and 34 Telugu Desam Party MLAs from the region resigned from Parliament and state Assembly. The ministers also quit from the state cabinet.

But those representing the twin-cities stayed away from the resignation politics for obvious reasons. As the state capital has metropolitan character and a large number of people from other two regions of Andhra Pradesh live here it is in their larger political interest not to antagonize outsiders.

Secunderabad Congress MP Anjan Kumar Yadav, Majlis-e-Ittehad-e-Muslameen leader, Asaduddin Owaisi, Malkajgiri MP Sarve Satyanarayana, ministers D Nagender, Mukesh Goud and P Shankar Rao, and Congress MLAs M Shahsihdar Reddy and T Manemma are among those who stayed away from the Telangana agitation. Several MIM MLAs and Kukatpally MLA Jayaprakash Narayan are also among them.

According to Congress sources the party central leadership can mobilize these elected representatives to project the point of view that Hyderabad and Telangana are not necessarily the same and that the former has its own distinct identity.

A couple of Congress leaders have been demanding Union Territory status for Hyderabad in case of division of the state. They cite the example of Chandigarh in this regard. They have refused to buckle under the pressure of the pro-Telangana activists within the party. Congress can now easily use these leaders to neutralize the impact of the agitation.