Congress ready to carve out Telangana State

The meeting on carving out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh is now over indicating that Congress leaders are in favour of creating a separate state. However, the final decision on the issue is awaited.

The final call will be taken by the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision making body. Though, the date for the meeting has not been fixed yet, it is expected to be held before the commencement of the monsoon session of the Parliament, scheduled on August 5.

While party’s core group was discussing about the splitting of the state Andhra Pradesh, division within the Congress on the issue came to light when party leaders belonging to coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema opposed to the move.

On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy continues to oppose to the division of the state. While, BJP, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Rashtra Samiti, and CPI are in favour of the formation of Telangana, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (MIM) and CPM have been opposing the move. The YSR Congress is yet to make its stand clear on the issue.

The core group meeting was chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, defence minister AK Antony, finance minister P Chidambaram, home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Ahmed Patel, the party chief’s political secretary on Friday.