Telangana decision put off, Congress Working Committee to take final call

The Telangana question took centre stage at the Congress high command here on Friday, with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy meeting party president Sonia Gandhi and then the Core Group taking up the issue.

“A meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) would take a final call on the Telangana issue,” All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijay Singh, incharge of the state, said. The CWC is the higest decision-making body of the Congress.   

Sources said Reddy, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Botsa Satyanarayana and Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha gave separate presentations on the issue of statehood for Telangana before the core group.

While the CM and the PCC chief have argued for a “united Andhra”, the deputy CM is in favour of bifurcation of the state and creation of a separate Telangana.

There was much drama in the run-up to the core group meeting in the evening, with speculation rife the CM had threatened to resign should the Congress high command divide the state. These rumours arose after the CM had a mere 10-minute interaction with Sonia Gandhi. The meeting apparently had to be cut short as the core group meet had been rescheduled from 5.30 pm to 4 pm.

The chief minister’s office in Hyderabad was quick to issue a statement denying the rumours. “It is absolutely false and baseless. It is malicious in nature. Soniaji is our leader and I have high respect for her. Personally, I have greatest regard for her as a true Congress leader,” the statement by the information and public relations department quoted Reddy.

The meet was attended by Digvijay Singh and former state incharge Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Digvijay Singh had a few days ago filed a report to the high command on his assessment of the demand for and against Telangana statehood.

During the day, the pro-Telangana faction, including Union minister Jaipal Reddy and many members of the Andhra legislative assembly, met over lunch at senior leader V Hanumantha Rao’s residence.

Sources said the Congress is in favour of an “early resolution” within a month itself, as the state goes to the polls, Assembly and general elections, in 2014.