Hyderabad, December 19: There is now no need to guess what will happen to the status of Andhra Pradesh after the Srikrishna Committee submits its report.
New Delhi, according to authoritative sources, is not willing to give any thought to the creation of a Telangana state either immediately or in the near future.
There have been hints to this effect from several recent events and comments, and well-informed sources disclosed that the Centre has decided to put on the backburner what it promised on Dec. 9, 2009 — steps towards formation of a separate Telangana state.
Any move to reconsider the status of AP is now likely only closer to the 2014 polls. And that possibility too appears remote.
Faced with several complications at the national level involving its allies, the UPA government is in no mood to take any step that would lead to further tangles with its partners.
Demands for smaller states exist in many parts of the country, and creation of Telangana is bound to encourage those movements. In Uttar Pradesh, chief minister Mayawati is playing for the first-mover advantage by endorsing the demand for a Bundelkhand state just in case Congress pushes for Telangana.
Against this background, sources said Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamul Congress and Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party have warned the Congress leadership against taking any step that would give momentum to demands for smaller states of Darjeeling and Vidarbha respectively.
Some Congress leaders had reportedly suggested that the small states demand be discussed at the Congress plenary that began today.
But the leadership nipped the move for fear of annoying the allies.
The Congress has reportedly considered all options in the given situation in AP: the political dividend from a bifurcation of AP would go to the TRS and exposes the Congress to the risk of losing the rest of the state as well. At the same time, the party is aware that its chances in united Andhra Pradesh are not rosy either. The separatist agitation is bound to rage in the next few years, consuming the Congress in Telangana while Jagan Mohan Reddy nibbles away at its base in the rest of the state. Either way, the chips are down and the best expedient for the party may be to not unsettle the situation in AP and thereby invite trouble in other states as well.
New Delhi has been amply warned that there will be considerable unrest in Telangana if a separate state is not given. “We are aware of that possibility and will face it while making a conscious effort to address the grievances of the people of the region,” was the response.
The Congress is also said to be getting ready to exercise an extreme option: impose President’s Rule in AP if events take a turn for the worse due to trouble in Telangana and political destablisation by the Jagan camp.
–Agencies