Go slow, allies tell Centre on Telangana

Dec. 15: The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on Tuesday appealed to the people and all political parties in Andhra Pradesh to maintain peace and harmony.

The appeal clearly indicated that the Centre’s priority is to bring normalcy to the state, which has been on the boil over the formation of a separate state of Telangana.

The CCPA met on Tuesday evening and took stock of the Andhra Pradesh situation. The government took its allies on board for the first time after realising that the situation in Andhra could get worse and spread to other parts of the country on the issue of smaller states.

Union home minister P. Chidambaram briefed the meeting. According to sources, the ministers belonging to the Congress’ allies felt the priority should be to bring peace and normalcy and felt the government should not initiate the process of formation of a Telangana state.

Though nobody questioned Mr Chidambaram’s earlier statement on the bifurcation of Andhra, the allies’ advice was that the government should not take any step in haste. The sources said the Centre will not act on this issue without a unanimous resolution in the Andhra Assembly. The AP Assembly is clearly divided and thus there can be no further movement on this issue.

After an hour-long meeting, a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s media adviser said the CCPA took stock of the situation in Andhra Pradesh and appealed to the people and all political parties in the state to maintain peace and harmony.

At the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the UPA allies were briefed about the decision taken in favour of statehood for Telangana and the background to the announcement by Mr Chidambaram last Wednesday night.

Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar (NCP), railway minister Mamata Banerjee (Trinamul) and textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran (DMK) attended the meeting at which Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Chidambaram and external affairs minister S.M. Krishna were also present.

Some of the allies pointed out that even in the UPA’s first term they had opined in a sub-committee on Telangana that the matter needed deep study and any hasty decision could only trigger demands for smaller states all around.

The meeting noted that the President’s address in 2004, when the UPA first came to power, had a reference to Telangana but a consensus was yet to emerge. The meeting comes in the midst of deep divisions in Andhra Pradesh with Telangana on one side and Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema on the other. The ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh is riven with sharp differences over statehood for Telangana.

Over 130 MLAs, cutting across party lines, have resigned their membership of the Assembly in protest against the proposed bifurcation. TDP members from non-Telangana regions are to meet the Prime Minister on Wednesday to demand the revocation of the decision for a separate Telangana state, the MPs told reporters.