No date on formation of Telangana: Chidambaram

Government today refused to give any timeline for formation of Telangana while promising to look into all issues of concerns like the status of Hyderabad.
Replying to an impromptu debate in the Rajya Sabha on Telangana formation, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the government will take forward the decision of Congress party to form Telangana state and rejected the opposition allegation that it was taken in a haste.
"I cannot give a date. The process will be taken forward in accordance with the procedure and precedence," he said when asked by Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley on whether the government was determined to form the new state despite opposition from within and outside.

He, however, said this process will not take as long as it took while forming the states of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, which took about two years.
"Every political party's view will be kept in mind before the government takes a decision on how to take forward the process of Telanagana formation," Chidambaram said on behalf of an indisposed Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
He was responding after Opposition members came down heavily on the Government over Telangana, accusing it of trying to score political points by taking a hurried decision after sitting on the sensitive issue for four years.

The government was accused of acting in an "autocratic" manner and playing a "dangerous game".

Brushing aside criticism, Chidambaram said, "The more you accuse the Congress party, the more you abuse the Congress party, the Congress party will become stronger and stronger."
Hitting out at those opposing the decision, he said, "These are matters in which politics overtakes reason and logic. You are damned if you do, you are damned if you don't.