Digvijay Singh plays safe on Telangana statehood row

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Monday continued to maintain suspense on the issue of separate statehood to Telangana, saying a decision is to be taken.

"I really don't know the agenda as yet. But yes, the decision is to be taken," he told mediapersons here.

Singh, who isin-charge of Congress affairs in Andhra Pradesh, also played safe on whether a decision on the issue could be taken up in the UPA Coordination Committee meeting.

"I am not a member of the UPA Coordination Committee," he said.

Singh further said that he is still not aware of the agenda of the Congress Working Committee.

A meeting of UPA Coordination Committee has been called on Wednesday to take a view on the Telangana issue. A Congress Working Committee meeting is also expected to be held after the UPA Coordination Committee meeting.

Senior party leaders from the state said that creation of a separate state appears to be a fait accompli but the party will gave to address complications attached with it.

The Congress MPs from rest of Andhra Pradesh have so far opposed any division of the state.

The six anti-Telangana MPs, including Union Ministers M M Pallam Raju, K S Rao, Chiranjeevi and D Purandeshwari (all hailing from coastal Andhra) and K Bapiraju and Anantarami Reddy had met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in a delegation to push for keeping Andhra Pradesh united.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has charged the Congress Party of betraying the people of Telangana for the last 56 years, and said that the ruling party at the Centre is confused on the issue because there is no ideological commitment.

BJP President Rajnath Singh earlier said that his party is committed to creation of a Telangana state.

According to certain media reports, Hyderabad is likely to be a Union Territory for five years and will act as joint capital of the two states to be created out of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

The Union Territory will be administered by a Lieutenant Governor. The Governor of Telangana state will be the ex-officio Lieutenant Governor of Hyderabad in these five years.

Media reports further state that a proposal to this effect is going to be put up to the Union Cabinet before August 5.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has so far reiterated his stance for maintaining a united Andhra Pradesh at any cost.

Several ministers and MPs from Andhra Pradesh have been camping in Delhi over the last 2-3 days to discuss the issue with the top leadership.

Congress MPs from Telangana have so far accused the Centre of following what they call a 'one-step-forward-two-backward' approach when it comes to addressing their demand for a separate state.

The Centre's flip-flop over the issue began in December 2009 when the then Home Minister P. Chidambaram promised the formation of a new state only to go back on it after a few days.

The issue was later pushed before a committee headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna. This panel did not come up with a tangible solution, but instead presented six options.

These included the creation of a Telangana Regional Council within Andhra, bifurcation of the state into Telangana with Hyderabad as the capital and Seemandhra with a new capital; bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana after making Hyderabad a Union Territory; bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana with enlarged Hyderabad metropolis as a Union Territory; bifurcation of the state into Rayala Telangana and Coastal Andhra; and maintenance of status quo.