Hyderabad, January 18: The Centre will not move on Telangana soon with the statehood demand mired in deep divisions within political parties and strident regional claims that make any fresh initiative a high risk option given the overwhelming lack of consensus.
The UPA-2 government is clear that tempers on both sides of the Telangana divide need to cool and some common ground will have to emerge before the statehood plea can be taken up. A consensus has to be wide and durable for a new state to become feasible. Heated rhetoric is not helping matters.
Political sources said the vocal advocacy of Telangana MPs after the Srikrishna committee presented several options on a “united” as well as “divided” Andhra Pradesh hardened fault lines. Congress MPs from Telangana were driven by competitive politics but cramped the Centre’s hand.
Andhra Pradesh remains politically volatile and passage of a statehood Bill requires a degree of accord in the state assembly that is absent. The lurking danger of the government being destabilized by any adventurous or ill-considered gambit has been enough to make the Congress high command cautious.
The statehood clamour is not seen to be overstated or unjustified. Telangana is recognized as a valid issue since the formation of Andhra Pradesh but the demand is currently too conflicted for the Centre to get down to tackling hurdles like a new capital for the non-Telangana area of Seemandhra or the merits of Hyderabad being a shared legacy.
Congress is also watching how Kiran Reddy shapes up as chief minister and if he can show the leadership needed to restore political discourse. He needs to overcome his meagre administrative experience and manage factions while keeping an eye on the threat posed by rebel leader Jaganmohan Reddy who is looking to settle scores with the party.
The ruling party feels Jagan’s threat can be neutralised as his support among MLAs may not be substantial despite 24 state legislators attending his Delhi protest. The number of those who could follow Jagan out of the Congress is reckoned to be much less. Yet, the late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy’s son seeking his father’s crown is a resourceful foe.
The government is not at all sure of what the fallout of accepting Telangana could be. The chain effect may give life to dormant demands like Vidarbha and ignite simmering ones like Gorkhaland. “I don’t think we are prepared for a flare up,” said a source. Memories of home minister P Chidambaram’s December 9, 2009 late night statement that the “process of formation of the state of Telangana would be initiated” and the Centre’s subsequent somersaults have not dimmed.
–Agencies