Ahmed Patel asks them not go ahead with the event
Hyderabad, March 21, 2008After forcefully asserting on Thursday that they would go ahead with their proposed public meeting in support of separate Telangana at Bhongir, Senior Congress leaders announced on Friday that they would not go ahead with the rally on March 24. This was announced by V Purushotham Reddy, MLA after he received information from Ahmed Patel, political secretary to AICC president Sonia Gandhi asking them not to go ahead of the event as the high command was looking into the demand for statehood to Telangana.
At a news conference, Purushotham Reddy said that Ahmed Patel had conveyed the view of Sonia Gandhi who reserved her comment when the senior leaders called on her at New Delhi. He said Sonia Gandhi heard them patiently on the objective of the Bhongir meeting and other related issues for one and half hours and promised to respond after they returned to Hyderabad. He said that she kept her word.
Ahmed Patel was quoted by Purushotham Reddy as asking the seniors to postpone the rally so as not to rupture their relations. It is learnt that he said that the party high command was debating the demand and would be in touch with them. He denied that the high command bowed to pressure from integrationists within Congress in seeking postponement of the rally.
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