Hyderabad, January 06: In the end, the T meeting in Delhi was not as hot as expected.
Reason: There was no vociferous argument in favour of a united Andhra Pradesh while the Telangana Rasthra Samithi (TRS) conveyed that it was willing to give Centre some more time to hold negotiations as long as it does not go back on its T promise.
Having heard all the parties, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has firmly kept the keys in his pocket. Indications are that the Centre may soon constitute a committee headed by a senior bureaucrat to carry forward the consultations.
What would be its brief is, however, not clear as yet. Will it be asked to lay down the road for separation or just elicit views on whether the State should be split or not? ‘‘Leave it to me,’’ was the cryptic reply of Chidambaram when some parties sought to know how the Centre intends to go ahead.
The storm that the State has been witnessing for a month, both in Telangana and Coastal regions, was, however, not reflected in the meeting. It was Telugu Desam’s Revuri Prakash Reddy from Telangana who set the ball rolling.
‘‘We have given a letter to the Pranab Mukherjee Committee conveying our party’s support for a T State. We have not given any fresh letter reversing our position,’’ Reddy said, seeking to convey that officially, the Telugu Desam’s position remains unchanged, irrespective of what his colleagues from the Coastal region have been saying now. Reddy’s position appears to have unnerved the other representative of TDP, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, who hails from the Coastal region. He devoted most of his speech to blaming the Congress and Chidambaram for the current situation, without strongly advocating the cause for a unified Andhra Pradesh.
CPI’s Narayana too blamed Chidambaram but for a different reason.
His point was that the Centre should no longer dilly-dally and hasten the process for formation of a Telangana State. BJP’s Bandaru Dattatreya too toed a similar line.
PRP’s C Ramachandraiah sought to counter the demand for a Telangana State by placing some statistics to claim that the region, in fact, got more funds and was more developed than several districts in Rayalaseema and Coastal regions. Prof Jayashankar of the TRS presented a 10-page fact-sheet to prove how Telangana was ‘‘deprived’’ of resources for several years. Overall, there were no heated exchanges and everything was recorded by the Home Ministry.
Surprisingly, TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao too did not strike a belligerent posture.
Chidambaram reportedly intervened when Rao tried to present historical reasons as to why a Telangana State should be given, saying everyone knew about it. ‘‘Tell me how do we go ahead?’’ the Home Minister sought to know. To this, Rao replied saying that the statements made by all parties on the floor of the Assembly and at the allparty meeting convened by Chief Minister K Rosaiah in favour of Telangana were sufficient.
But, if the Centre still intends to hold further consultations, it could do so but complete the process in a month or two, he said.
–Agencies