Decision on separate state of Telangana in a month: Govt

In an all-party meeting on Friday, the Union government assured political parties from Andhra Pradesh a decision on a separate state of Telangana would be taken within a month, adding the decision would satisfy most groups.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said, “I have heard all the parties carefully. I will brief the government on the outcome of the meeting and within a month, we will come out with a result. Within a month, there will be a decision. This was the last all-party meeting on Telangana. There will be a good decision.”

Most major political parties, including the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Telugu Desam Party, the TRS and the YSR Congress, have agreed to a separate state of Telangana. For on Friday’s meeting, the government had invited two representatives each from eight political parties. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was also present.

 

Soon after the meeting at North Block, TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao said the fact that the government had conducted a meeting in which all political parties only reiterated their known stands was a futile exercise. “The Union government has said this over a hundred times. It has not fulfilled its promises. It has cheated the people of Telangana again. This is not acceptable. We are not happy with the meeting at all. All parties reiterated their known stands. No one said anything new in the meeting,” he said. TRS had called for a bandh in Telangana to protest against the attitude of the Union government, he added.

Meanwhile, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the Hyderabad-based party didn’t favour a separation, though it felt statutory safeguards should be provided for Telangana. “If the Union government seeks to bifurcate the state on the criteria of backwardness and neglect, we suggest a Rayala-Telangana state be formed by bringing together Rayalaseema and Telangana regions, with Hyderabad as the capital,” Owaisi said after the meeting.