Hyderabad: Principal opposition Telugu Desam Party on Tuesday today dubbed the Centre-convened all-party meet on the Telangana issue on December 28 as a "political drama".
"The all-party meet is a political drama by Congress. It is trying to trouble other parties by not resolving the statehood issue," TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu said in Adilabad.
He came down heavily on the Centre for prolonging political uncertainty in Andhra Pradesh and demanded that it come out with an immediate solution to the issue.
Lok Satta Party President and MLA N Jayaprakash Narayan wondered if the Congress-led UPA Government was sincere in resolving the Telangana issue pending for decades.
"We will stoutly oppose the meet if it is part of the Congress` political game plan. We need an amicable solution to the issue with the consent of all concerned," he said.
The CPI too termed the meeting a "sham".
Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde`s announcement on December 4 on convening an all-party meet had kindled hope that the Centre would try to find a solution to the vexatious issue.
But Shinde himself took the sting out of the meeting by saying it was just part of consultation process which would continue "till we find a final solution".
AICC general secretary in-charge of AP affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad had remarked here last week the meet was intended to enable the Home Minister, who took charge a few months ago, to "acquaint" himself with political views on the issue.
The BJP, a vocal supporter of statehood for the region, wants Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to represent her party at the meet to clinch the issue once and for all.
"Our national President Nitin Gadkari will attend if Sonia represents Congress at the all-party meet," state BJP president G Kishan Reddy said.
BJP leader and former union minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the Congress should first make its stand clear before eliciting views of other political parties on the issue.
"Meeting would be another drama and it is a farcical exercise" he said, adding, his party "is yet to receive any letter from the Central government about the meeting".
The ruling Congress, which is deeply divided on the matter, appears unwilling to spell out its stand.
State Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana and the party`s Telangana MPs have maintained that the Congress need not spell out its stand, though some of its senior leaders like Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy, a strong protagonist of separate Telangana state, want the party to be clear about its stand before the all-party meet.
"Sonia Gandhi should take a final decision on the issue without any further delay," Jana Reddy told reporters in his native Nalgonda district.
The Congress has always been a divided house on the statehood issue, with leaders from the Telangana region supporting the demand for bifurcation and those from the Andhra-Rayalaseema region staunchly opposing it.
PTI
