New Delhi: The Home Ministry has not yet taken a decision on the mercy petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru as it was busy in handling the situation arising out of the gangrape of a girl in Delhi.
Asked whether any decision has been taken on Guru`s pending clemency plea, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the relevant file has come to him and he wanted to send the government`s recommendation on the mercy to the President as soon as possible.
"But in between, the rape case happened and I had to devote a considerable amount of my time to it. I will take a decision. But I will have to go into details. When the country`s President sends something to me for the second time, that means I have to go deep into the case and study it in detail and then send the recommendation," he said.
There were huge public protests after the 23-year-old paramedic student was brutally raped and assaulted in a moving bus on December 16. Later, she died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.
Asked what would be the government`s decision on Telangana statehood, Shinde said he had heard the views of eight political parties of Andhra Pradesh on December 28, 2012 and promised to make some announcement within a month.
"I said that I will tell something within a month. I did not say this way or that way. At this moment, there is nothing. Some people are writing to me what to do and what not to do and it is my duty to collect all information within a month so that something can be worked out," he said.
Asked about the possibility of making Hyderabad an Union Territory, the Home Minister said there has been no discussion on it so far.
"There are many suggestions. There are suggestions of the Srikrishna Committee also. We will look into all those...," he said.
PTI
