Hyderabad, December 10: The Centre blinked over the issue of Telangana state on Wednesday night and expressed its desire to start the process of forming the new state by dividing Andhra Pradesh.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in a statement on Wednesday night said the Centre is beginning the process of creating a separate Telangana state in Andhra Pradesh.
“The process of forming the state of Telangana will be initiated. An appropriate resolution will be moved in the Andhra Assembly,” said Chidambaram.
However, the Centre has not committed to a time-line and merely said that a resolution will be brought in the Andhra Assembly for the formation of the new state.
The Home Minister’s statement came at the end of three rounds of meetings between senior Congress leaders and Congress President Sonia Gandhi
If a resolution is passed, Centre will consider a bill on Telangana during the Budget Session of Parliament in February, 2010.
However, there is no clarity on the future of Andhra’s capital Hyderabad even though the city is unlikely to get union territory status.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), on the other hand, said that the party would not accept the new state without Hyderabad even though it welcomed Centre decision.
“It a good first step. The government has indicated its willingness for creation of a separate state. TRS chief will end his fast,” said TRS leader KT Rama Rao.
Soon after Chidambaram’s statement TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao broke his 11-day long fast at the state-run Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad.
But it is still a long way off from the actual creation of a separate state of Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh.
While 16 of the 42 Congress MPs did give a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing support for a separate state, the MLAs coming from Rayalseema and coastal Andhra Pradesh are still a bit reluctant.
There is also the question of a new chief minister and how will Andhra Chief Minister K Rosaiah manage affairs from here on.
Moreover, the principal Opposition party in Andhra, Telugu Desam Party is against the bifurcation of the state.
“There are a lot of things involve in it. Congress party has made an appeal to KCR to withdraw the fast because this is not the solution,” said Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee President D Srinivas.
What seems to have really worried the Congress High Command was the possibility of things spiralling out of control in a state which had voted heavily for the Congress in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
With TRS chief refusing to end his fast and the number of protesters growing by the day, there was a fear of a serious law and order problem breaking out.
For now the government would draw satisfaction from making this strategic move even if it was meant to break the 11 day fast of KCR.
-Agencies