TIMES of INDIA
NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: The process of consultation over the
Telangana issue is over and the time has come for a decision, Congress
general secretary Digvijaya Singh said on Friday.
"We shall let you know the decision taken," he said in New Delhi amid
hectic activity of the party leadership to take a final decision on the
issue of separate statehood to Telangana.
Digvijaya Singh, in-charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, was
talking to reporters after holding separate meetings with chief minister
N Kiran Kumar Reddy, deputy chief minister Damodar Rajanarasimha and
state Congress chief Botsa Satyanarayana.
Digvijaya Singh's predecessor Ghulam Nabi Azad was also present at the
meetings that assumed significance ahead of the Congress core group
meeting on Friday evening.
The two central leaders held detailed discussions with the three state
leaders who rushed to the national capital on summons from the party
central leadership.
The core group meeting is likely to finalize the date for the meeting of
Congress Working Committee (CWC), expected to take a final decision.
The three state leaders, earlier this month, submitted their reports to
the Congress core group. The leadership is believed to have summoned
them again to get certain issues clarified.
Kiran Kumar Reddy and Botsa Satyanarayana, in their separate reports,
are understood to have opposed any move to divide the state while
Damodar Rajanarasimha, who is from Telangana, backed the statehood
demand.
Earlier in the day, Congress leaders from Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and
Andhra regions) called on the chief minister and urged him to convey to
the leadership their strong opposition to the state's division, party
sources said.
Seemandhra leaders, who made a beeline to the national capital in a
last-ditch attempt to stall a possible decision to carve out Telangana
state, held a meeting to chalk out their strategy. The meeting was
attended by state and central ministers and Congress MPs from
Seemandhra.
S. Sailajanth, the state minister heading the group opposed to state's
division, told reporters after the meeting that they were confident the
state would remain united. He termed as speculations the talk of a
likely decision to carve out Telangana state.
"We have decided to exhaust all options to ensure the state remains
united," he said.
Hectic activity in Delhi has began amid the continuing resignations of
Seemandhra leaders to mount pressure on the central government.
Two Congress legislators on Friday submitted their resignations to the
assembly speaker. As many as 16 legislators of the YSR Congress party
and one of Congress on Thursday announced their resignations.
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