Committee on Telangana issue should stick to Dec 9 prog: JAC

Hyderabad, January 30: The committee proposed to be appointed by the Centre to go into Telangana issue should stick to the December 9 time-frame, all-party Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) spearheading the agitation for the separate state said here on Saturday.

“They should commit to the December nine programme and have a clear time-frame. These are our two expectations,” JAC Convener C Kodandaram told a news agency here today.

The JAC insisted on a time-frame for the completion of the task by the proposed committee as it fears the panel may end up like the women’s reservation bill, he said.

“We said some time-frame should be there. Otherwise, it would become an endless process. Like the women’s reservation bill, it will never see the light of the day,” Kodandaram said.

The committee should be within the framework of the two demands, he said, adding JAC has not discussed the nature of the panel.

“Within the framework of these two demands, the committee should be only for formation of Telangana. Nothing short of this will satisfy us,” he said and added JAC would continue its agitation if the Centre’s announcement falls short of its expectations.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had announced on Thursday that government would appoint a committee next week to go into the Telangana issue.

The JAC had earlier set a January 29 deadline for the Centre to make a statement on the separate statehood failing which they threatened to press for acceptance of en masse resignation of legislators from Telangana region.

In the wake of Chidambaram’s statement on Thursday, JAC extended the deadline for the mounting pressure on the Assembly Speaker to accept the resignations of MLAs and MLCs.

–Agencies