Telangana agitation intensifies, Congress weighs its option

New Delhi: The politics and agitation for a separate state of Telangana has once again intensified. The Central Government may take a decision on the issue soon. The government is considering two options, first to make Telangana a separate state and second to constitute an Autonomous Telangana Regional Council within Andhra Pradesh. The government has set January 28 as the deadline for taking a decision on Telangana.

Two separate delegations - one supporting Telangana and the other opposing it - met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and other senior Congress leaders on Tuesday articulating their views on the sensitive issue but got no assurance from anyone. On December 28, after an all-party meeting, Shinde had announced that the government would make an announcement on Telangana within a month. According to the sources, government is considering only on two options out of six options given by the Srikrishna Committee.

The first option is to divide Andhra Pradesh into two states namely Telangana and Seemandhra. Telangana's capital would be Hyderabad while Seemandhra will have a new capital. The other option is not to divide Andhra Pradesh and instead constitute a Telangana Regional Council. A regional council will help in the social, political and economic development of the area and this option was also declared as the most practical one by the Srikrishna Committee.

The first option is to divide Andhra Pradesh into two states namely Telangana and Seemandhra.

Meanwhile, supporters of a separate Telangana are opposed to a regional council while the anti-Telangana group is also sticking to its demand. Andhra Pradesh Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu also demanded a separate state of Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital. While Congress MP L Rajagopal said that people are demanding a separate state for their own political interests.

BJP is also openly supporting the demand for Telangana along with the TRS and the TDP. The pressure is increasing on the Congress to clear its stance. Hopefully, the Congress Core Group may take its decision on Friday.

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