Just a day before the crucial report on Telangana by retired justice B N Srikrishna was expected to be released and discussed by the central government, the main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded immediate creation of the state in the national interest.
Although it rejected an appeal from Home Minister P Chidambaram to attend tomorrow’s eight-party meeting on the Telangana report, the BJP reiterated its demand that a separate state should be formed at the earliest.
“There should be no delay in creation of a separate state of Telangana, as it will be against the country. The BJP demands that Telangana should be created,” said party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Telugu Desam Party have also decided to boycott tomorrow’s meeting.
However, political activities in the national capital grew during the day as N Kiran Kumar Reddy, chief minister of the Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh, met party chief Sonia Gandhi.
According to senior members of the Congress, Reddy arrived here this morning and met Gandhi at her residence where the meeting went on for more than an hour.
He is in the capital to attend tomorrow’s meeting called by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and discuss the contents of the report on Telangana.
The chief minister had also briefed the Congress leadership, Sonia Gandhi and Pranab Mukherkee, about the elaborate security arrangements made in his state to avoid any violent incident. The members of the Srikrishna Committee had also met all political parties and leaders in the state to ensure that no violence takes place once the report is submitted and made public by the home ministry.
Ahead of tomorrow’s discussions, the Congress high command asked all its MPs from Telangana to be present in Delhi. The MPs, along with the party’s state unit chief, D Srinivas, met the Union finance minister. “Pranab Mukherjee has SAIDwe would be given some time to go through the report. He has also asked us to discuss the report in detail with our colleagues and then come out with a detailed response,” Uttam Kumar Reddy, a Congress MLA from Telangana region said.
