Before leaving Hyderabad after his maiden visit, Srikrishna told media persons that soon a website will be opened on which all technical information and data given to the committee will be available for the people to see.
The members of the Justice Srikrishna Committee must understand the enormity of the task at hand and the burden on their shoulders. The committee must adhere to the highest standards of professionalism if its final report is to be taken seriously and not be mocked and condemned by one section or the other. The people of Andhra Pradesh, including the advocates of a separate Telangana, owe it to themselves to allow the committee to function properly and complete its work.
The Justice Srikrishna committee is understood to have recommended six options to deal with the Telangana statehood demand, on which the government may take a call in approximately six weeks.
Kicking off its consultation process over two months after it was constituted, the Justice B N Srikrishna Committee on Telangana on Friday heard a delegation led by Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao who strongly batted for a separate Telangana to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh.
Justice B N Srikrishna, the head of five member consultative committee on the Telangana state issue, has said that the committee was keen to understand the ground reality and take the opinions of the ordinary people on the Telangana issue.
The Punjagutta police station in Hyderabad has registered the case against the members of the Justice Srikrishna committee, which had recently submitted a report on Telangana
Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan is resorting to dinner diplomacy to avoid any last minute misunderstandings and to pave the way for smooth meeting of the first sitting of of the Justice Srikrishna Committee on Telangana.
Chidambaram appealed to political parties in Andhra Pradesh to read the recommendations of the Justice Srikrishna Committee on Telangana with an "open mind" and give "impartial consideration" to them.
Opposition parties on Thursday slammed the central government for not taking prompt action on Justice B N Srikrishna's recommendations on resolving the Telangana issue.
The Telugu Desam Party on Wednesday night announced that it would not attend the all-party meeting convened by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in Delhi on Thursday to discuss the Srikrishna Committee report on Telangana statehood issue. In a letter to Chidambaram, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu said it was for the Centre to take the decision on the issue.Telangana Rashtra Samiti and BJP have already said they will not be attending the meet on Friday.
The Justice Srikrishna Committee on Telangana extended the deadline for sending representations on the statehood issue till April 10 instead of March 31 as announced earlier. The Committee headed by B N Srikrishna issued a public notice, which said representations on the contentious statehood issue will be received till April 10.
The B N Srikrishna Committee, set up by the Centre to look into the demands for the creation of a separate Telangana, has said that so far, it has not received any official report from the ruling Congress party and main opposition Telugu Desam Party.Committee chairman Justice BN Srikrishna, who arrived in Hyderabad on Thursday to discuss the issue with various political parties, said that some leaders of the two parties had presented their own reports to the committee.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, the biggest Muslim political party in Andhra Pradesh has expressed serious reservations over the fate of the Muslim minority in case of the formation of Telangana state.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Sunday decided not to attend the meeting called by Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi on Thursday to discuss the Justice Srikrishna Committee report on Telangana, saying there would be divergent views at the meeting as parties will have members from both regions.
Telangana protagonists may claim Hyderabad as an integral part of their region but the statehood demand does not arouse the 'same intensity of emotions' among the residents of the metropolis unlike people in other areas in the region.
It was on December 9 exactly two years ago that the central government announced that the "process for carving out a separate state of Telangana" was being initiated but it has not moved a few steps beyond that.
The Justice Srikrishna Committee report has recommended in a "secret" supplementary note steps the Centre should take to keep the Telangana statehood issue under check in Andhra Pradesh.
The Andhra Pradesh Police have made elaborate arrangements to maintain law and order in the state in view of the Justice Srikrishna Committee report getting public after an all-party meeting called by Home Minister P Chidambaram in Delhi on Thursday. 50 companies of para-military forces comprising Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force and Central Industrial Security Force personnel have been deployed in coastal Andhra, Telangana and Rayalseema.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Friday said the Centre would take a decision on the contentious statehood issue only after the eight recognised political parties in the state expressed their views on it.
The software lobby Nasscom on Friday expressed concern over developments in Andhra Pradesh in the wake of Justice Srikrishna Committee report over Telangana issue and cautioned that prolonged unrest might hamper business and could lead to jobs being moved to other states.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, Congress leader Uttam Kumar Reddy, CPI-M state secretary B Raghavalu, PRP leader C Ramachandraiah were among those who are attending the meeting during which Chidambaram will handed over the Justice B N Srikrishna Committee report on the Telangana statehood demand.
The Osmania University Joint Action Committee on Telangana on Tuesday appealed to political parties in Andhra Pradesh to field relatives of people who died during the agitation for a separate state when the by-elections are held in over ten constituencies in the state.Manavat Rai, a member of the OU Joint Action Committee, said the parties should field relatives of the people, especially students, who have 'sacrificed their lives for the cause of a separate state'.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Thursday dismissed reports of divisions within the ruling Congress on the emotive Telangana issue and asked everyone to wait till the Justice BN Srikrishna Committee report on the statehood issue is released on Thursday.
'It's still very early. I have just been handed over the matter and therefore I haven't formed any views on it as yet,' Justice B N Srikrishna tells Pavan Lall.
'Some false information was carried to Delhi, these negative bits seemed to have played heavily.' Union Textiles Minister KS on why he opposes the Telangana decision.
The Congress' top leadership decided to rally firmly behind the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh as the party prepares to face the Telangana issue after an official committee submits its report on the statehood issue by this month-end.
Leaders of various parties from both sides of the political divide met President Pranab Mukherjee at the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad on Monday night and put forth their arguments for and against the proposed bifurcation of the state.
Setting the Telangana process in motion, the Centre has cleared the way for the formation of an organisational structure for the Justice B N Srikrishna-headed Telangana committee.
Justice B N Srikrishna, who heads the five-member committee to study the situation in Andhra Pradesh arising out of demand for separate Telangana, has said the final decision will have to be taken by the Centre.
The Centre on Friday announced seven-point terms of reference for the Telangana committee, saying the panel will consult all sections of people in Andhra Pradesh, especially political parties, on the demand of a separate state. The five-member committee, headed by Justice (Retired) B N Srikrishna, will "examine the situation in Andhra Pradesh with reference to demand for a separate state of Telangana as well as the demand for maintaining the present status of united AP.
Even as keenly awaited terms of reference of Justice B N Srikrishna commission on Telangana were likely to be announced in New Delhi on Thursday, tension was mounting in the region once again. Leaders and legislators of Telangana region are becoming restive day by day.
The Group of Ministers on Telangana is set to discuss the draft bill for the creation of Telangana on Saturday.