Hyderabad: Congress leaders from Telangana region are planning to meet party president Sonia Gandhi in the next few days after the humiliating defeat in the recent by-elections in Andhra Pradesh. "All Congress leaders from Telangana are committed to separate state demand. Sonia Gandhiji is presently out of the country. She is in the US. We will meet her either tomorrow or day after tomorrow," K Keshav Rao, a senior party leader and Rajya Sabha member, told reporters here.

The senior leader said he met Congress MPs from non-Telangana regions in a bid to persuade them to agree to the separate statehood demand. Rao, who did not favour the Congress contesting the by-elections, said the sentiment in favour of a separate Telangana is very strong in the region.