Except TRS, Everyone Seems Undecided on Telangana

The Sakala Janula Samme or 'people's general strike' is still going on unabated in Telangana region of A P since it started on 13 September 2011. While the strike demanding carving out a separate Telangana state is being spearheaded by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (TJAC), the other political parties in the state are still yet to arrive at a consensus for bifurcation of the State.

The Congress in State and at the Centre continues to grapple with the contentious issue of carving out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh with consensus eluding the party on splitting the state. Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday (30-09-11) chaired the party's core group meeting that had Telangana on its agenda. This was the first core group meeting she was attending after her coming back from US, where she had been to undergo a surgery for an undisclosed ailment.

The party's Andhra Pradesh in-charge and union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad briefed the core group about the outcome of his talks with Congress legislators, MPs and other senior leaders from all the three regions - Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana - during the past few months to find an acceptable solution to the imbroglio. The broad contours of the Telangana report he had earlier in the day submitted to Sonia Gandhi at her residence were also discussed at the meeting.

According to sources, the report contains the details of Azad's consultations with all stake holders and the "pros and cons of different scenarios" that could possibly emerge due to the formation of a separate state of Telangana. The views of those opposing the partition on different grounds also find a mention in the report. Amid mounting pressure for an early decision, the two-hour-long core group meeting ended without any conclusion. "Discussions are on and it will take some time before arriving at a decision. The party leadership will study the report and accordingly formulate a view on the issue," a senior leader said.

Prior to the core group meeting, home minister P Chidambaram had said, "Four political parties including the Congress are yet to take a decision on the issue. TDP and MIM are waiting to see what the Congress party's decision will be. The YSR Congress too has not indicated its mind yet."