Additional security forces are being brought to Andhra Pradesh in the light of strong reports that the Centre may announce its decision on Telangana next month.
The presence of para-military forces on the sensitive Osmania University campus in the city and other places in the region is visible again for the past couple of days. Officials confirmed they would be receiving additional forces totalling 80 companies (about 70 personnel to a company) from outside the state by the end of this month.
Earlier, the Centre had sent 60 companies of para-military when the Telangana agitation was at its peak, with occasional violent outbursts, last year. Of these, about 30 companies were shifted to other states where Assembly elections were held. The movement of additional forces to Telangana coincides with talk in the upper echelons of power that the Centre may opt for a compromise solution to this vexed issue.
Sources in the government and political circles said the Centre might announce its intent of forming a statutory council for the Telangana region, with appropriate constitutional amendments that would provide autonomy to the region within the framework of the state. This will guarantee allocation of 42 per cent of the total financial resources and jobs among other things, along with a one-time financial package for development of the region.
The Srikrishna committee on the issue had suggested a statutory authority for the region as one of six ways to resolve the Telangana tangle.
“Whether this option is agreeable to political parties such as the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and the (ruling) Congress’ own leaders from the region is a different matter. At least, the government’s move will create scope to win over the moderate sections within Telangana. It is better than maintaining a non-committal stance,” said a senior official.
Senior leaders in the UPA government, including Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram and Gulam Nabi Azad (the last-named is in charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs in the Congress), did not give any scope for speculation when MPs and ministers from the region visited Delhi recently to put pressure on the Centre.
A few Congress MPs from the region said on Monday, they’d sit on a fast unto death from July 5 as part of a showdown in support of their demand for a separate state.
The TRS-controlled Joint Action Committee has also announced an agitational programme from next month.
