Now that the Assembly elections in four states are over and the bypolls in Andhra Pradesh resulted in a conclusive victory of Jaganmohan Reddy, estranged Congressman and son of former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Rreddy, the central government and party leadership will have to decide how to tackle the Telangana issue.
Tomorrow, ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament, several Congress MPs and MLAs from the region are arriving here to ask the high command to take “immediate steps” to form a separate state. Including some state ministers, they intend to meet, among others, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, defence minister A K Antony and party leader Ahmed Patel on Wednesday or Thursday.
The lawmakers have already told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh they cannot continue in their posts for long if the Centre does not announce formation of Telangana. They have also said they may quit their posts if they do not see progress.
The meeting with Mukherjee and Antony is expected to be stormy, with MPs and MLAs likely to tell them categorically that the Centre should stick to its December 9, 2009, statement that steps would be initiated for the formation of Telangana.
The MPs and MLAs had met Mukherjee and Antony in March, when the two ministers reportedly asked them to wait till the Assembly elections in five states were over. “Now the elections are over and we would want the party and government to come clear on the issue. People have been waiting for a separate state for long,” an MP said.
The central government had on December 9, 2009, said it would initiate steps for the formation of Telangana, but made amended this announcement on December 23, saying there was need for wide-ranging consultations on the issue. It then appointed the B N Srikrishna committee, which suggested six alternatives to address the issue. But the Telangana Congress MPs and MLAs have said they will not agree to anything short of a separate state.