Cong likely to take final decision on Telangana by July end

With the Congress all set to accept the long-pending demand for a separate state of Telangana, the matter is slated for discussion at the party’s working committee meeting to be convened before the monsoon session commences on August 5. No official dates for this crucial meeting have been announced so far, but party insiders are mentioning July 28 or 29 as possibilities. The final decision will be taken at the next meeting of the Congress core group.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may also convene an all-party meeting to build consensus on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

The Telangana issue was discussed at the weekly meeting of the Congress core group on Friday for the second consecutive time. The core group, headed by party President Sonia Gandhi, had a lengthy discussion on Telangana last Friday when Andhra Pradesh Chief Kiran Kumar Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Narasimha and senior Pradesh Congress Committee chief Botsa Satyanarayana made presentations on the fallout of dividing the state.

The core group had then decided to take the matter to the Congress working committee ostensibly for wider consultations, but primarily to endorse its decision. It also wants the message to percolate to the people and prepare them for the division of the state, as there is a strong opposition to this move in the coastal and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh.

The coming days will witness hectic consultations as the party has to take a view on the status of Hyderabad. Having delayed a decision on Telangana for over three years, the Congress has to act fast on this issue now as the Lok Sabha and the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections are due in 2014.

Image: A pro-Telangana supporter shouts slogans during a protest in New Delhi

Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters