Antony to head AICC panel to boost UPA for 2014 Lok Sabha polls: Digvijay Singh

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday informed that Defence Minister A.K. Antony is heading a committee formed by the AICC to look into possibilities of strengthening UPA alliance for the next Lok Sabha polls.

Singh, who talking to the media here on the sidelines of the general body meeting of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee meeting, said that the Committee is looking into the possibility of striking an alliance with the DMK.

To a poser on the formation of a separate state of Telangana, he said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has been asked to prepare a road map for the creation of Telangana, and added that a decision on the formation of a separate state will be taken after the road map is ready.

Asserting that the decision to create a separate state of Telangana is not an easy one, Digvijay Singh earlier on Monday said whatever decision has to be taken would be taken in the best interest of the nation, in the best interest of the state and in the best interest of the welfare of the people of Andhra Pradesh.

"I have had the experience of the division of a state when Chhattisgarh was created out of Madhya Pradesh. It's not an easy decision and the issues of division are also quite intricate. Therefore, whatever decision has to be taken would be taken in the best interest of the nation, in the best interest of the state and in the best interest of the welfare of the people of Andhra Pradesh," said Singh.

"We have a political challenge ahead of us 2014, we owe it to the people of Andhra Pradesh who gave us a massive mandate in the parliament from Andhra Pradesh in 2004 and 2009 and we acknowledge that it was the large mandate that we got from Andhra Pradesh which made UPA-I possible," he added.

Singh said that Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dr. M. Veerappa Moily and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who were earlier the AICC in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, have had widest consultations at all levels of elected representatives and political parties on the Telangana issue.

"And now, a final decision is to be taken and I am requesting the Chief Minister and the PCC President and the Deputy Chief Minister to prepare a roadmap keeping both options open as to what should be the strategy, what should be the course of action following the decision," he added, while interacting with the media in Hyderabad.