Shinde continues to maintain suspense over formation of Telangana

Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Thursday continued to maintain suspense over the formation of a separate Telangana state, and said that the matter is under consideration.

"People and the leaders (of Andhra Pradesh) are meeting all top leaders of the Congress Party, including the Prime Minister. The matter is under consideration," he told the media here.

To a poser on whether an announcement could be made before the Monsoon Session, Shinde said the final decision has to be taken by the higher authorities.

"But it will be something soon, this or that way," he added.

The Core Group of the Congress which met in New Delhi last week to discuss the creation of a separate Telengana state, has communicated the outcome to the Congress Working Committee, the party's highest decision making body, which will now take a final call on the issue.

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who is in-charge for Andhra Pradesh, had earlier said a decision will be taken in the working committee meet.

He said the party had held wide consultations with all political leaders and the Core Group had heard Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana and Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha on the issue.

Shinde had earlier this month said the consultations on the demand for a separate Telangana were still on and it would take time for arriving at a decision.

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.