Is Telangana Regional Council in The Offing?

Speculations are rife in political circles that an autonomous regional council for Telangana region is in the offing. The proposal also gained momentum with senior Congress leader D Srinivas tipped to become the first chairman of the council. While sources say the regional council would not be the final but the first step towards finding a lasting solution to the Telangana tangle, pro-Telangana leaders think it is yet another ploy to suppress the Telangana movement.

The T-protagonists poit out that it was a tried and tested formula and said that nothing short of a separate Telangana state is acceptable to the four crore people of the region. TRS MLA K Taraka Rama Rao questioned the rationale behind forming a separate Telangana Regional Council (TRC). "What would a toothless council do to assuage the feelings of the people? It's bound to be a failure," he said. The T-leaders express doubts as to what might a nominated body do to convince the Centre on the larger aspirations of the people when the views of elected representatives from the region have not been taken into account.

Former TRS MP B Vinod Kumar said "The Centre is fooling the people yet again as the creation of a TRC was included in Act 7 of 1956 when Andhra Pradesh was formed on November 1, 1956." In fact, two regional councils - one for AP and the other for the erstwhile greater Punjab - were included with adequate constitutional safeguards way back in the 60s. "So, the question of a new regional council for Telangana doesn't arise," reasoned Vinod. He also ridiculed the sparring over the status of Hyderabad. "Shillong which was the capital of undivided Assam till 1972 was made capital of Meghalaya and Dispur became the new capital of Assam. The Seemandhra leaders' concerns over losing Hyderabad is ridiculous," said Vinod.