Formation of Telangana will take five to six months, says Sushil Kumar Shinde

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

Addressing the media here, Shinde said: "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."

Responding to a question on the Congress Ministers and MLA's from outside the Telangana region, who are likely to resign by Thursday evening, Shinde said that they should put forth their demands in a peaceful and democratic way. "I am making an appeal to them that they should make their demands peacefully in a democratical way," 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.

The Union Cabinet is likely to meet on Thursday evening to take a final call on Telangana formation.

AICC General Secretary and in-charge of Communications Department Ajay Maken on July 30, briefed the media about the resolution on the formation of Telengana that was passed in the Congress Working Committee meeting presided by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and attended by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and party's vice-president Rahul Gandhi among others.

The Congress Working Committee had resolved to request the Central Government to take steps in accordance with the Constitution of India to form a separate state of Telangana and establish within a definite time frame a mechanism to address the concerns of the people of the regions of Andhra and Rayalaseema on matters relating to sharing of river waters, generation and distribution of electricity, safety and security of all residents in all the three regions and the guarantee of the fundamental rights of all residents.

Congress General Secretary, Digvijay Singh disclosed that Telangana will have 10 districts. "At the moment, the decision is for the 10 districts of Telangana. But as and when the Group of Ministers are considering that and if there are any other areas which have put in a demand then the Group of Ministers can look at it " said Digvijay.

He added that the Congress Party had cleared the formation of Telangana with Hyderabad as joint capital for 10 years.