JAC to wait for terms of reference of Telangana committee

The Telangana Joint Action Committee, spearheading the agitation for a separate state, today said it would wait for the terms of reference of the Telangana committee announced by the Centre before giving its views.

"We would like to know the terms of reference of the committee and the time-frame of the committee," JAC Convener C Kodandaram told reporters here.

The JAC would meet later in the day to discuss the issue, he said.

Senior Telugu Desam MLA N Janardhan Reddy, who represents the main opposition party in the JAC, also said his party would respond only after the terms of reference of the committee are announced.

"We want to know the terms of reference of the committee before giving our reaction.What we want is Telangana state in a time-frame.If this committee is for it, then we will welcome it," he said.

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) too said it would wait for terms of reference of the committee to be announced.

"We are waiting for terms of reference of the committee to know if it is in furtherance to the December nine statement made by Home Minister P Chidambaram. (If it is so), then we can look forward to it.If it is a step back to explore whether to give Telangana or not then we will not be happy with it," K T Rama Rao, TRS MLA and party president K Chandrasekhar Rao's son, told PTI.

"We are demanding a committee for the formation of Telangana within a timeframe," Rao said.

Hailing the announcement of formation of the committee, the ruling Congress said the move proved once again that the party stood by its word.

"It shows that Congress would honour its word. The terms of reference would be naturally announced in consultation with the Chairman in another two or three days," state Congress president D Srinivas said.

State IT Minister K Venkata Reddy, who hails from Telangana, said he welcomed the formation of the committee but sought a time-frame.

TDP leaders from non-Telangana regions said the committee should look into separate state demands from other parts of the country.

"There are separate state demands from Vidarbha, UP, Tamil Nadu and elsewhere. This committee should look into all such demands," senior TDP leader K Yerran Naidu said.

The government today constituted a five-member expert committee on Telangana issue headed by former Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna.