Digvijay Singh says post-Telangana formation concerns will be addressed

Even as normal life in Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra regions remained paralysed for the ninth consecutive day over a demand for retaining a united Andhra Pradesh, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday said the committee constituted by the ruling party under the chairmanship of Defence Minister A.K. Antony shall look at all concerns arising out of the proposed formation of a separate state of Telangana.

"A committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Mr. A.K. Antony with Mr. Veerappa Moily, Mr. Ahmad Patel and myself as members. And, we shall look into all areas of concern arising out of the carving of a separate state of Telangana," he told media here.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi yesterday approved the constitution of this four member committee amid protests by some party leaders against formation of separate statehood of Telangana.

Seven Union Ministers from Andhra Pradesh headed by Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju met the Congress President on Tuesday evening to discuss the issue and raised the demand that Hyderabad be retained as permanent common capital of the two Telugu speaking states on the lines of Chandigarh, which is the state capital of Punjab and Haryana.

Expressing concern over the ongoing protests following the nod for the formation of a separate Telangana state, a delegation of Members of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh also met Finance Minister P. Chidambaram earlier this week to bring to his notice the feeling of insecurity in the people and ensure that fairness prevails.

Pallam Raju and other union ministers from Andhra region had last week offered to quit in protest against the decision to form a separate Telangana state.

The Congress Party, however, asked them to stay on.

Protests over Telangana have brought the Andhra Pradesh virtually to a standstill. Employees from the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema areas, which are opposed to the creation of Telangana, have also been protesting against a reported comment by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader K. Chandrasekhara Rao that 'employees from Seemandhra and Rayalaseema should go back to their regions'.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy had written a letter to the Congress President, asking her not to divide the state. Reddy and his council of ministers have been away from work since last week when the ruling Congress Party announced the creation of Telangana as India's 29th state.

Demanding the Centre keep Andhra Pradesh united, more and more groups of people like auto rickshaw drivers, hotel managers associations are taking part in the protest demonstrations being held across the two regions of Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra.

Medical practitioners, lawyers and other professionals held rallies at several places. Managements of private educational institutes in Rayalseema region continued their shutdown, while business entities remained closed at several places.

Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has said that the process for the formation of the new state of Telangana would take about five to six months as per constitutional norms.

"The Congress Working Committee (CWC) has passed a resolution and further procedure will be done according to the Constitution of India. Telangana will be formed by following all the procedures and it would take five to six months," he said.

He also added that Telangana was being formed because it was the oldest issue and the people of that region have been agitating and demanding the formation of a separate state since 1956.