New Delhi: As the Telangana agitation entered
26th day, Congress top brass Friday night held hectic consultations
on the ticklish statehood issue, ahead of the Andhra Pradesh
Governor ESL Narasimhan`s meetings with Central leaders on
the situation in the state.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the main
troubleshooter of the government, had separate meetings with
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia
Gandhi on the Telangana issue.
Later, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K
Antony and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also the
Congress General Secretary in-charge of the state, met
Mukherjee to discuss the issue.
Azad, who has prepared a report on the Telangana issue
after talks with party leaders of all three regions of the
state, had met Gandhi on Wednesday to brief her about the
issue.
The meeting came as Narasimhan arrived here for talks
with Central leaders. Sources in Hyderabad Raj Bhawan had
yesterday said that Narasimhan would meet Singh and
Chidambaram during his visit.
During the meetings, he is also expected to present a
report on the ground situation in the state, particularly in
the Telangana region, in the light of the ongoing general
strike by a cross-section of people.
The strike has taken a violent turn in the past few days
with incidents like burning of buses and attack on passengers.
Congress leaders from the region and TRS chief K
Chandrashekar Rao had recently met Singh separately demanding
an "early resolution" to the issue.
Rao had rejected Singh`s appeal to call off the strike,
saying it would not be done until the Centre announces the
formation of a separate state with a time frame.
PTI
