Cong to talk to political parties on Telangana

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday night decided to hold talks with political parties on ways to defuse the crisis in Andhra Pradesh. A formal invitation will be extended to political parties in the next two to three days.

The Congress core committee, which met earlier in the day Tuesday to take stock of the crisis in Andhra Pradesh, assessed the option of forming a panel that includes representatives of the state government, Centre and political parties for breaking the logjam. But not many were willing to see the panel as a solution to the vexed issue.

Congress had last week mulled on the constitution of a second State Reorganisation Committee. But this was shelved after ministers pointed out that such a proposal would only create troubles across the country with more regions demanding separate statehood.

There is acknowledgement that there was no easy solution to the problem. With the emotional divide in the state not easy to bridge, the Telangana votaries are not going to be satisfied with anything less than an announcement of a timeframe for splitting the state.

The fears that a panel may not work are not unfounded as even ministers in the Rosaiah government continued to insist on a time-table for the creation of a separate state of Telangana. The administrative paralysis in the state became more evident on Tuesday when home minister P Sabita Reddy skipped a review meeting on law and order convened by the chief minister.

Ms Reddy had attracted criticism from her colleagues from the Telangana region for participating in a meeting convened by new governor E S L Narasimhan on Monday. Ms Reddy had attended the meeting along with director general of police R R Girish Kumar, additional DGP A K Khan and state Intelligence chief M Mahender Reddy.

Ms Reddy is among the 13 ministers from Telangana region who submitted a common resignation letter to AICC president Sonia Gandhi demanding a clear timeframe for the formation of a separate state.

Meanwhile, the government is jittery over the bandh in the state on Wednesday. The all party Joint Action Council has already resolved to intensify their agitation.