Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: After initially clearing the way for a separate Telangana, the Centre now appears to have developed cold feet on the issue. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday reassured pro-unity Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh that nothing will be done in haste on the creation of the separate state.
The MPs from coastal Andhra and Rayasaleema regions
met the Prime Minister for 40 minutes, after which senior party leader KS Rao Rao told reporters that the Singh assured them of taking everybody’s interest into consideration on the issue.
On Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement on the
issue, Rao said it was "nothing new" but a reiteration of the
old stand of the Congress and the Centre.
"He (Chidambaram) only said that the process will be
started by asking the state Assembly to move a resolution,"
Rao said.
He said the process was already on as a party
committee under Chief Minister K Rosaiah was formed in
February this year to look into the demand.
The people of coastal Andhra and Rayalseema, he said,
were "provoked" as there was some misunderstanding on the
statement of the Home Minister.
Describing the situation as "very, very serious", he
said they were finding it difficult to go back to their
constituencies because of the "sentiments of the people for a
unified Andhra Pradesh".
Rao said the government and the Congress should
"console" the people of Andhra Pradesh by giving a
clarification (on the statement of Chidambaram).
The PM has, as per reports, informed the MPs that the core committee of the Congress party would again meet over the issue and work out the way forward. However, no time frame has been indicated as to when the meet will happen.
Emerging out of the meeting, Minister of State for Defence Pallam Raju also indicated that the government is looking at playing a waiting game to diffuse the current, potentially explosive, situation.
“There is no consensus on the Telangana issue as shown by the resignations by MLAs cutting across party lines,” Raju said.
On the hasty manner in which the Centre took the decision, Raju said, “The CM had earlier convened a meeting of all parties and they had assured that they will support the separate Telangana bill. The government acted on that.”
“And now we see there is no consensus on the issue,” Raju pointed out.
On their meeting with the PM, “We have conveyed to him the feelings of people from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. The whole mood is for a united Andhra Pradesh.”
The Andhra MPs also criticised TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, saying that he has lost support of the people and indicated that Maoists and
anti-social elements, amongst others could be behind the move
for creation of a separate state.
Sonia assures justice to all
Importantly, these MPs, including late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's son Jagan Mohan and three Union Ministers Panabaka Luxmi, D Purnadeswari and A Sai Prathap had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and expressed their opposition to the bifurcation of the state.
Sonia had assured the upset party MPs that "no injustice will be done" and views of all sections will be taken into account.
But clearly, Congress High Command is in a spot as party MPs and MLAs are openly voicing their dissent on the issue and it is growing, as the number of Congress MLAs who have resigned has shot up to 76 today.
Moreover, the government seems to be working to try and delay the whole process so as to first build some sort of consensus on the issue.
AP Chief Minister MK Rosaiah has already made it clear that no decision would be taken in haste and consensus will be sought on the issue. And with no date been fixed for tabling the resolution in the Andhra Assembly, the tussle is still far from over.
‘United Andhra’ camp grows to 128 in AP Assembly
Crisis continues in Hyderabad with the number of MLAs resigning climbing to 117 even as protests broke out
in non-Telangana regions over the Centre's decision to split
the state.
Twelve more MLAs submitted their resignation to
Speaker Kirankumar Reddy. In all 76 MLAs from Congress have
resigned, 38 from TDP and 14 from PRP in the 294-member
Assembly.
Amid a debate over whether or not to continue Assembly
proceedings in the wake of the en masse resignations of
legislators, the Speaker adjourned the House till Monday.
The Speaker made it clear that he has to speak to all
those who quit before taking a decision after ascertaining if
they resigned due to their own volition or due to any
compulsion.
In view of the crisis, the state government is holding
consultations with the Attorney General.
Chief Minister K Rosaiah has called a meeting of floor
leaders of all parties to take stock of the situation.
Incidents of violence and stoning of buses were
reported in towns of coastal Andhra and Rayasaleema against
the Centre's decision to carve out Telangana state.
At the start of the proceedings, the Speaker announced
that 103 MLAs of Congress, TDP and PRP have resigned and that
he will go by the rule book while taking a decision on them.
Members including PRP Chief Chiranjeevi raised the
issue in the House and felt the decision on a separate
Telangana should have been taken through consensus.
Later the House was adjourned till Monday.
Meanwhile, TRS chief Chandrasekhar Rao was discharged
from hospital after spending 13 days due to his fast for a
separate state of Telangana.
A large number of TRS activists and fans greeted him
and raised slogan 'Jai Telangana' when he came out of the
Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences here.
Doctors said Rao was discharged as his health
condition was stable.
With PTI inputs
First Published: Friday, December 11, 2009, 15:50