Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Wednesday said the creation of a separate state of Telangana was a work in process and progress.
“I have said (on Telangana) that it is in the process,” he told media here.
He had earlier said that the contentious Telangana statehood demand would be delayed further, as the government needed more time to arrive at a final decision.
Shinde had set a one-month deadline for a decision in December when he had invited two representatives from each party to know their views afresh on the Telangana issue in New Delhi.
The meeting was held to bring out the views of all parties on the demand.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday lashed out at the UPA Government for deferring a decision on whether Andhra Pradesh should be split to create a separate state, saying the ruling Congress Party at the Centre has consistently betrayed the people demanding a separate state of Telangana.
“We condemn this consistent betrayal by Congress Party of the feelings and aspirations of people in Telangana. Telangana is a demand for justice, they (government) promised in December 9 that process of formation of separate state of Telangana has begun, Chidambaram (the then Home Minister) said that it has began and it was halted the same day,” said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.
“So that is the Congress Party politics, they say one thing and do exactly the opposite,” he added.
Congress Party has so far played safe on the Telangana statehood demand, saying it is a very sensitive matter and a decision in this regard would be taken at an appropriate time.
The four-decade-old demand for Telangana, which is to be carved out of the economically less developed part of Andhra Pradesh, gathered momentum after the Congress party ruled government accepted the demand in principle. (ANI)