After initial silence, Cong plans statement

Out of the frying pan into the fire over the Telangana statehood issue, the Congress is contemplating a statement to soothe nerves in a tensed Andhra Pradesh.

Initially, the party had opted to remain silent and try to buy peace through backchannel from its warring factions—for and against the separate state of Telangana. But now, as the ground situation remains far from normal and party legislators keeping up the pressure, the top brass is contemplating some additional and public moves.

But it’s easier said than done. Caught between two totally polarised views, the party is burning the midnight oil to find a “politically correct statement”. The core committee meeting of the Congress — headed by party chief Sonia Gandhi — continued for more than two hours on Monday. After the meeting, Union Law minister Veerappa Moilly (in charge of the Congress’ Andhra Pradesh affairs) and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee sat for another long meeting.

 

On Tuesday, Mukherjee and Moily had to meet again to decide on the next step, while MPs from Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra regions met Home Minister P Chidambaram, Moily and Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel.

The Congress brass had to shed its reluctance as a large number of its anti-Telangana MPs are still camping in Delhi and claiming that they are unable to go back to their constituencies to face angry voters.

The party, however, is unlikely to form a committee as demanded by a section of the anti-Telangana leaders. “We will do something to ensure that these MPs can go back to their constituencies but there is no plan to set up any committee,” a top minister told Business Standard.

After the anti-Telangana MPs did their rounds with the top leaders of the Congress, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, the pro-Telangana group also stepped up the heat. The Telangana MPs today warned of “serious repercussions” if the government “dilutes” the decision to create separate Telangana. This group today sent a letter to the PM and Gandhi saying they are “ready to resign and join the movement for a separate Telangana.”