As the suspense on the issue of separate statehood for Telangana continues, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on Monday said that his party is in favour of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and will definitely agree to the demand for a separate state.
"The BJP had decided this long back looking at the socio-economic condition and geographical situation of Telangana, a separate Telangana state should be formed," he said.
He also asserted that BJP will definitely agree to the demand for a separate statehood of Telangana if they come to power.
"If BJP comes to power at the Centre, then we will definitely make Telangana a separate state," he added.
A meeting of UPA Coordination Committee has been called on Wednesday to take a view on the Telangana issue. A Congress Working Committee meeting is also expected to be held after the UPA Coordination Committee meeting.
Senior party leaders from the state said that creation of a separate state appears to be a fait accompli but the party will gave to address complications attached with it.
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The Congress MPs from rest of Andhra Pradesh have so far opposed any division of the state.
The six anti-Telangana MPs, including Union Ministers M M Pallam Raju, K S Rao, Chiranjeevi and D Purandeshwari (all hailing from coastal Andhra) and K Bapiraju and Anantarami Reddy had met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in a delegation to push for keeping Andhra Pradesh united.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is likely to meet on Tuesday to take a decision on the formation of a separate state of Telangana.
According to certain media reports, Hyderabad is likely to be a Union Territory for five years and will act as joint capital of the two states to be created out of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
The Union Territory will be administered by a Lieutenant Governor. The Governor of Telangana state will be the ex-officio Lieutenant Governor of Hyderabad in these five years.
Media reports further state that a proposal to this effect is going to be put up to the Union Cabinet before August 5.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has so far reiterated his stance for maintaining a united Andhra Pradesh at any cost.
Several ministers and MPs from Andhra Pradesh have been camping in Delhi over the last 2-3 days to discuss the issue with the top leadership.
Congress MPs from Telangana have accused the Centre of following what they call a 'one-step-forward-two-backward' approach when it comes to addressing their demand for a separate state.
The Centre's flip-flop over the issue began in December 2009 when the then Home Minister P. Chidambaram promised the formation of a new state only to go back on it after a few days.
The issue was later pushed before a committee headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna. This panel did not come up with a tangible solution, but instead presented six options.
These included the creation of a Telangana Regional Council within Andhra, bifurcation of the state into Telangana with Hyderabad as the capital and Seemandhra with a new capital; bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana after making Hyderabad a Union Territory; bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana with enlarged Hyderabad metropolis as a Union Territory; bifurcation of the state into Rayala Telangana and Coastal Andhra; and maintenance of status quo.