Coastal Andhra ministers hold consultations ahead of CWC meet

About 19 ministers from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions held a closed door meeting on Wednesday evening ahead of a crucial Congress Working Committee (CWC) sitting, which is expected to take a final call on the issue of separate statehood for Telangana.

The Congress core committee is meeting on July 26 while the CWC is expected to meet on July 28. Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy along with deputy chief minister Damodar Rajanarsimha and Pradesh Congress Committee president B Satyanarayana will be present at the core committee meeting.

The ministers, however, desisted from announcing any drastic action such as resignations to resist any move to divide the state. Primary education minister A Shailajanath, who is spokesperson for the united Andhra lobbyists, said they would soon visit Delhi to hold consultations with the MPs from their respective regions to decide on the future course of action.

Following the meeting, the team of ministers proceeded to meet the chief minister reportedly to brief him about their deliberations.

It may be recalled that in December 2009 all the ministers and legislators from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions from all political parties had announced mass resignations forcing the Centre to back out from its decision to initiate the process for the creation of Telangana state. The situation in both the ruling Congress and the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is not similar to what it was in the previous episode, though the leaders from coastal Andhra continue to maintain they would oppose any move by the Government of India taken in favour of separate statehood.

Leaders of ruling Congress, both in the state and at the Centre, have been hinting that the UPA has made up its mind in favour of state’s division.