Telangana nears D-day - Cong conveys decision to Andhra

SANJAY K. JHA

Sonia Gandhi New Delhi, July 26: The Congress high command today told the Andhra Pradesh leadership that a Telangana state would be carved out soon, putting the lid on the ceaseless speculation and tug-of-war in a party still split vertically on the subject. Any public announcement is expected to have immediate implications for Bengal, where the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had iterated a few days ago that it would be compelled to revive the Gorkhaland movement if the southern state was bifurcated. Although a formal announcement on Telangana must wait till early next month, sources said the modalities were being worked out and an unambiguous message had been sent out on the sensitive issue, which had triggered violent agitation and political uncertainty. "The process of consultation is over and the time to take a decision has come," party general secretary Digvijaya Singh said after meeting Andhra chief minister Kiran Reddy. The Congress core committee, which met at the Prime Minister's residence in the evening, discussed the statehood draft that would be cleared by the Congress Working Committee in the next few days, the sources added. The working committee may demand the creation of a Telangana state and the government would follow it up with an announcement in Parliament when the monsoon session begins on August 5. An all-party meeting may be held before that because the Congress wants proper processes to be followed. The state leaders appeared confused about the details this evening, some wondering whether the new state would be called Telangana or Hyderabad State. The city of Hyderabad may continue to be the capital of both states for the next 10 years. There is also talk of another major decision — that of granting Other Backward Classes status to the powerful Kapu caste in coastal Andhra. The Kapus are already OBCs in the Telangana region but are an upper caste in Andhra, where they wield enormous clout as landlords. The Congress hopes to gain electoral dividends from this decision, but a backlash cannot be ruled out. In general, the Congress is confident about political gains in Telangana where it is looking to ally with key political formations or even persuade them to merge with it. In the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, however, the party has to meet the challenges posed by the Telugu Desam and Jaganmohan Reddy's party. Andhra leaders from both the pro-statehood and anti-statehood factions have been camping in Delhi to build pressure on the central leadership. Although most of them realise that the state's division is a foregone conclusion, some are keen to point out that key leaders such as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, home minister Sushil Shinde and even President Pranab Mukherjee still harbour doubts about such a move. The home ministry is worried about the possibility of pro-statehood flare-ups in Vidarbha, the Darjeeling hills and Assam's Bodo areas. The Prime Minister's misgivings relate to security and intelligence agencies' warnings on Maoists gaining the upper hand in a Telangana state. But the Congress leadership has prevailed on them since Andhra, which helped lift the party to power at the Centre in 2004, has become a political challenge because of the statehood agitation and Jaganmohan's rise. Sources said both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, in addition to senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and P. Chidambaram, were in favour of a Telangana state. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130727/jsp/frontpage/story_17163233.jsp#.UfPKoNKBloI