Andhra CM meets Sonia over separate Telangana
5 Feb 2013 1:56 AM GMT
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday held consultations with the party’s central leadership including Congress president Sonia Gandhi amid demand for an early decision on Telangana issue.
Reddy had a 30-minuted long meeting with Gandhi and her political secretary Ahmed Patel at her 10 Janpath residence here during which he is learnt to have briefed the party leadership over the situation in the state over the issue of separate statehood.
Earlier, Reddy had an hour-long separate meeting with AICC general secretary in-charge for Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister also met President Pranab Mukherjee.
The meetings come a day after Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) announced plans to block highways and organise a ‘Chalo Assembly’ during this month and early March as part of intensifying the separate statehood agitation.
Taking exception to the Centre’s move to hold further consultations on the contentious Telangana issue, the JAC also decided to undertake a campaign to mount pressure on the MLAs in Telangana region from February 16 to 21.
Azad had said the central leadership would discuss the Telangana issue with the Chief Minister, the PCC president and senior leaders from the three regions of the state as part of a consultation process.
State Congress president B Satyanarayana is also expected to go to Delhi for consultations undertaken by the Congress high-command.
Earlier a group of seven party MPs from the region sent their resignation letter to Gandhi through a courier on January 30.
Differences, however, appeared cropping up among them with Nizamabad MP Madhu Goud Yaskhi, one of the signatories to the resignation letter, saying he did not see any need for resignation after party spokesperson P C Chacko’s statement that Congress was not against formation of Telangana and it was only a matter of time.
Others, however, remained firm on resigning unless a ‘roadmap for creation of Telangana was announced early’.
Chacko had said last week that Congress is not against the formation of Telangana but it needs time to complete the formalities. He also signalled that the process has been put on the fast track.
‘Congress is not against the formation of Telangana state. We are in the process of taking a decision but then formalities have to be completed,’ Chacko had told reporters.
Making a strong pitch for separate Telangana, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had said on 31 January that he had told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that a delay in the matter would not be helpful.
The NCP chief said that he raised this issue with Prime Minister, becoming the first UPA-constituent to openly come out in support of an early decision on Telangana, and was expecting a meeting of the UPA to be held soon.
Pawar insisted that Congress was also ‘generally pro-Telangana’. ‘The question (to create a separate state) is that of timing.... We want Telangana as early as possible. A delay will not be helpful to us,’ Pawar said.
The government, however, counselled patience over the issue, saying it was being addressed.
‘The issue is being addressed. We need to be patient. We need to be engaged and need forbearance,’ information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari had said.
Reddy had a 30-minuted long meeting with Gandhi and her political secretary Ahmed Patel at her 10 Janpath residence here during which he is learnt to have briefed the party leadership over the situation in the state over the issue of separate statehood.
Earlier, Reddy had an hour-long separate meeting with AICC general secretary in-charge for Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister also met President Pranab Mukherjee.
The meetings come a day after Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) announced plans to block highways and organise a ‘Chalo Assembly’ during this month and early March as part of intensifying the separate statehood agitation.
Taking exception to the Centre’s move to hold further consultations on the contentious Telangana issue, the JAC also decided to undertake a campaign to mount pressure on the MLAs in Telangana region from February 16 to 21.
Azad had said the central leadership would discuss the Telangana issue with the Chief Minister, the PCC president and senior leaders from the three regions of the state as part of a consultation process.
State Congress president B Satyanarayana is also expected to go to Delhi for consultations undertaken by the Congress high-command.
Earlier a group of seven party MPs from the region sent their resignation letter to Gandhi through a courier on January 30.
Differences, however, appeared cropping up among them with Nizamabad MP Madhu Goud Yaskhi, one of the signatories to the resignation letter, saying he did not see any need for resignation after party spokesperson P C Chacko’s statement that Congress was not against formation of Telangana and it was only a matter of time.
Others, however, remained firm on resigning unless a ‘roadmap for creation of Telangana was announced early’.
Chacko had said last week that Congress is not against the formation of Telangana but it needs time to complete the formalities. He also signalled that the process has been put on the fast track.
‘Congress is not against the formation of Telangana state. We are in the process of taking a decision but then formalities have to be completed,’ Chacko had told reporters.
Making a strong pitch for separate Telangana, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had said on 31 January that he had told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that a delay in the matter would not be helpful.
The NCP chief said that he raised this issue with Prime Minister, becoming the first UPA-constituent to openly come out in support of an early decision on Telangana, and was expecting a meeting of the UPA to be held soon.
Pawar insisted that Congress was also ‘generally pro-Telangana’. ‘The question (to create a separate state) is that of timing.... We want Telangana as early as possible. A delay will not be helpful to us,’ Pawar said.
The government, however, counselled patience over the issue, saying it was being addressed.
‘The issue is being addressed. We need to be patient. We need to be engaged and need forbearance,’ information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari had said.
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