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Decision on Telangana state will take time, says Home Minister

Discussions to evolve a consensus on separate Telangana state is on and the Congress high command will take a final decision on it but it will take time, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference, Shinde said discussions on Telangana issue were held in the past and such consultations have been continuing even now. ‘It is still on. The process (of consultation) is continuing. It will take time,’ he said replying to a question on when a decision on Telangana was expected from the government. Asked when a decision is expected from the Congress core group on the issue, he said he was not the only person to be the member of Congress party’s key decision-making body.

‘How can I say on core group? I am not the lone person to take a decision. There is a high command. The high command will take a decision,’ he said. According to reports, the Congress top brass is meeting on Friday to take a final view on the vexed Telangana issue which has divided all the parties in Andhra Pradesh on regional lines. Party general secretary Digvijay Singh, who is in-charge of the party affairs in the state, has already submitted his proposal in this regard to party president Sonia Gandhi as the UPA government weighs options on the demand for separate Telangana.

Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary sidestepped queries on the issue. ‘It is premature for me to comment especially when conclusions have yet not been drawn. I would not like to comment especially because I also come from the state (Andhra Pradesh). Please keep patience. It is just a few days. Party is seized of the matter,’ she told reporters. Asked whether no decision has been taken on creating seperate Telangana, she said, ‘I am not equipped (to answer this). I am not the competent authority to say whether a decision has been taken or not. It is not a carte blanche....We are looking at Telangana in a specific.....I will not talk on the general question because it is linked to Telangana.’ Her remarks came in response to questions whether the party decision on the matter will be a ‘logical follow-up’ of the view taken on 9 December, 2009 by the government and whether the Congress was for creation of smaller states
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