New Delhi, February 03: MPs from Telangana and Andhra regions have intensified lobbying in the national capital for and against bifurcation of the State as time is running out fast for them. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had said on Monday that a panel on the contentious issue would be formed this week.
While Telugu Desam Andhra MPs – K Yerran Naidu and N Kistappa – conferred with Union Home Minister P Chidamabram, Telangana Congress MPs G Vivek and Madhu Yahski met AP Congress affairs in-charge Veerappa Moily on Tuesday.
Yerran Naidu reportedly made it clear to the Union Home Minister that the proposed committee or mechanism should consult people of all regions, not just Telangana. The TDP MPs also cautioned Chidambaram against veering towards the Telangana state and warned that such a stance would cause unrest across the State.
After the meeting, Yerran Naidu said: ‘‘We have presented our views before the Minister. He said he would constitute the committee in a day or two.’’ The Congress Telangana MPs, on the other hand, urged Veerappa Moily to ensure that the committee’s mandate is creation of a Telangana State that too within a stipulated time-frame.
Vivek told Express that after the meeting, he was left with the impression that formation of a separate State was very much on the cards.
‘‘We have also brought to Veerappa Moily’s notice the campaign being run by TDP’s Andhra and Rayalaseema leaders against Chidambaram that he is in favour of smaller states.’’ Meanwhile, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Telangana is finding it increasingly difficult to work with the Congress MLAs who appeared to have developed cold feet after Veeerappa Moily’s stern warning to them against continuing in the JAC.
The Telugu Desam Party, the second largest constituent in the JAC after the Congress, made its displeasure known over the ‘‘perfunctory’’ role the Congress members have begun playing. ‘‘The number of Congress MLAs who took part in the dharna at the Gandhi Statue on Assembly premises has come down to two. This shows how serious the party is about Telangana,’’ TDP leader N Janardhan Reddy pointed out.
There is a growing feeling among the non-Congress constituents of the JAC that the Congress members were only making a show of being in the JAC.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader T Harish Rao implied that differences among the JAC partners were cropping up. ‘‘If all the MLAs in Telangana gather at one place, the Centre will have to create a separate State,’’ he said, implying that that it was not happening.
———Agencies