Three Congress MPs set Friday deadline for government to meet demand for separate Telangana state

The three Congress Members of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh, who announced plans to quit the party and join the rival Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), have set Friday (May 31) as the deadline for the government to meet their demand for the creation of a separate Telangana state.

The three leaders - Congress Working Committee invitee Keshav Rao and two Lok Sabha lawmakers M Jagannatham and Gaddam Vivekanand -are expected to formally join the TRS at a rally in Hyderabad on June 2.

"We have lost trust in the Congress and don't have any hopes of the party making an announcement on carving out a separate state (of Telangana) by Friday," Jagannatham told reporters after a closed door meeting with the TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao at his Vivekanand's residence.

"We don't want to continue in a party that has betrayed the people of the Telangana region," he added.

TRS president Rao has welcomed them into his party, saying this latest development will further strengthen the movement for a separate Telangana state.

Congress MPs from Telanagana accuse 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.