New Delhi, December 11: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday assured a delegation of Congress MPs from non-Telangana regions of Andhra Pradesh that nothing will be done in haste on the creation of a separate state, senior party leader K S Rao said.
The MPs from coastal Andhra and Rayasaleema regions met the Prime Minister for 40 minutes after which Rao told reporters that the Singh assured that “nothing will be done in haste”.
On Home Minister P Chidambaram’s statement on the issue, Rao said it was “nothing new” but a reiteration of the old stand of the Congress and the Centre.
“He (Chidambaram) only said that the process will be started by asking the state Assembly to move a resolution,” Rao said.
He said the process was already on as a party committee under Chief Minister K Rosaiah was formed in February this year to look into the demand.
The people of coastal Andhra and Rayalseema, he said, were “provoked” as there was some misunderstanding on the statement of the Home Minister.
Describing the situation as “very, very serious”, he said they were finding it difficult to go back to their constituencies because of the “sentiments of the people for a unified Andhra Pradesh”.
Rao said the government and the Congress should “console” the people of Andhra Pradesh by giving a clarification (on the statement of Chidambaram).
Criticising TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, he said he had lost support of the people and indicated that Maoists and anti-social elements, amongst others could be behind the move for creation of a separate sttae.
During the meeting, the party MPs gave a picture of the situation in the state to the Prime Minister and also the resignation of many MLAs of all parties.
Minister of State for Defence, M M Pallam Raju said there was a meeting on Telengana issue sometime back where all parties in the state assured support for a separate state.
However, when the announcement was made MLAs from across all parties resigned in protest which is an indication that there is no consensus.
Referring to the meeting with the PM, Raju said, “He has taken note of our sentiments”.
Party MP Subbirami Reddy said that one has to consider all aspects.
He also said that there was nothing new in the statement of the Home Minister.
–Agencies