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Congress talks trigger fresh debate on Telangana
Saturday June 30, 2012 02:22:26 PM,
Mohammed Shafeeq, IANS
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Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh's Telangana region may
not currently be witnessing protests for separate statehood but
the ongoing consultations by the Congress leadership in New Delhi
has sparked fresh debate on the sensitive issue.
The series of deliberations the leadership has been having with
the state party leaders and even with Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan
over the last one week has triggered speculation that a solution
to the four-decade-old issue may finally be in the offing.
While Congress president Sonia Gandhi's talks with the state
leadership have raised hopes among the Telangana protagonists
within the party, other parties have dismissed it as a Congress
ploy ahead of the presidential elections.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Telangana leaders of the
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) all
feel the Congress party is using the issue to get votes of MPs and
state legislators from the region for United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) candidate Pranab Mukherjee.
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram Friday said a solution to the
Telangana issue would be found as early as possible. However,
there is no indication as to what this solution would be.
The TRS, the BJP, Telangana leaders of the TDP and also the
political Telangana Joint Action Committee all have rejected the
idea of Rayala-Telangana and also the demand for union territory
status to Hyderabad.
Some Congress leaders from the Rayalaseema region hinted after
their meeting with Sonia Gandhi that the party leadership is
mulling formation of Rayala-Telangana, comprising Telangana and
Rayalaseema.
Telangana comprises 10 districts, including Hyderabad, while
Rayalaseema consists of four districts.
Sarve Satyanarayana, a Congress MP from Telangana, claimed after
his meeting with Sonia Gandhi Friday that people of Telangana
would soon hear good news. He claimed that the leadership would
address the issue after the presidential elections.
However, Telangana groups point out that this is not first time
the Congress has promised to address the issue after some
election. It had made a similar promise before elections in Tamil
Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala last year when Telangana was
witnessing violent protests for a separate state. A similar
statement was made before assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and
four other states.
Some political observers feel the Congress is not likely to do
something on its own on the issue when there is normalcy in the
region unlike the last year's turmoil and the mass strike.
However, Congress leaders from Telangana claim that the leadership
had realised that further delay on the issue would wipe out the
party from the region. They expect a solution before the 2014
elections.
Congress finished fourth and lost its deposit in this month's
by-election to the Parakala assembly seat from Warangal district.
After the by-poll result, party leaders from the region conveyed
to the central leadership that if the party failed to take an
early decision it would be difficult for them to face the people.
The Congress party had also received huge setbacks in the
by-elections to 16 seats from the region since last year.
(Mohammed Shafeeq can be contacted at m.shafeeq@ians.in)
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