New Delhi/Hyderabad, July 22 (IANS) Congress leaders from Telangana Friday asked the party central leadership to take a decision on statehood for the region before Aug 1 and made it clear that nothing except a Telangana state was acceptable to them.


At the first round of talks with Congress general secretary in charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leaders said if the party failed to take a positive decision before Aug 1 they would not go back on their resignations.

Congress MP G. Sukhender Reddy told reporters after the three-hour long meeting with Azad that the central leader had invited a 10-member delegation for another round of talks on Monday and asked them to make their proposal.

The Congress MPs and state legislators, who have already submitted their resignations, said they would reconsider their resignations only if the centre agrees to initiate the process for formation of separate state.

"If no concrete statement is made on initiating the process, we will say goodbye and join the agitation (for separate state)," said Sukhender Reddy.

The MPs said they would support the indefinite strike proposed to be launched by government employees in Telangana for a separate state.

The talks hit a roadblock even before they began as only K. Keshava Rao and K. Jana Reddy met Azad while others said the talks would serve no purpose without an announcement on Telangana.

Azad later convinced the other leaders to join the talks.