Decision on Telangana issue in final stage: Digvijay Singh

HYDERABAD: The process of taking a decision on the protracted Telangana issue is in the final stage, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh said today.

Singh, who was last month appointed in-charge of Congress affairs in Andhra Pradesh, told reporters that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, APCC President B Satyanaryana and Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha have been asked to furnish a roadmap that could lead to a decision on the decades-long statehood issue.

Singh, who is on a visit to the state, declined to draw a timeframe for announcing the decision on Telangana issue.

The Congress leader recalled that his predecessors Veerappa Moily and Ghulam Nabi Azad had held wide ranging consultations with elected representatives and others on the matter.

He said the options before the Central leadership was to keep the state united or grant statehood to the region.

When it was pointed out that the Centre-appointed Srikrishna Committee had suggested several options to solve the issue, the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said a comprehensive view would be taken before arriving at a final decision, which would be in "best interests" of the people of Andhra Pradesh and the country.