New Delhi, December 14: The government sought to cool tempers in Andhra Pradesh over the Telangana issue, saying there can be no forward movement on the statehood issue until the state assembly passes a resolution.
The developments in Andhra Pradesh were discussed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and state Chief Minister K. Rosaiah was advised about steps to defuse the situation.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told a delegation of Congress MPs from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions that the Telangana issue will not be discussed in the Lok Sabha till the assembly passes a resolution.
The MPs, who wanted the government to “clarify” its position on the proposed Telangana state, said they were given an assurance that the statehood would not be discussed in the Lok Sabha until the Andhra Pradesh assembly passes a resolution.
“He (Mukherjee) assured us that the resolution has to come from the state assembly first. Till then, there cannot be a discussion of the issue in the Lok Sabha,” senior Congress leader and Andhra Pradesh MP K.S. Rao told reporters.
Rao said they wanted an early clarification from the government to prevent division among people of different regions in the state.
Congress leaders are also hopeful that the sine-die adjournment of the assembly will help defuse the political upheaval in the state.
Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said the state assembly has been adjourned sine-die and there will not be an assembly resolution for the present.
Ahmed admitted there were divisions in the Andhra Pradesh Congress on Telangana. “There is no consensus. There are two views.”
He said the Congress was not wavering from its commitment on the formation of a new state, but the government has to wait for the assembly resolution before taking the process further.
Congress MPs from Telangana have also sought to build pressure on the leadership against any change in its stance for forming the new state.
M. Jagannath, Congress MP from Nagarkurnool in Telangana region, who met Sonia Gandhi last week as member of delegation, said she told them that the decision to form a new Telangana was taken in the greater interest of the nation.
“Madam (Gandhi) asked us to cooperate with the party and government in formation of a separate Telangana state,” he said.
–Agencies