Even as all eyes are on Friday's meeting of the Congress Core Committee to discuss the demand for separate Telangana State, the supporters of united Andhra Pradesh were trying to exert last minute pressure to avert the division of the State.
While Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha and State Congress chief Botsa Satyanarayana were busy in consultations to finalise their own road maps on the pros and cons of uniting or bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, Congress party leaders from the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions met Botsa in Hyderabad to demand that the State should remain united. Coinciding with the core committee meeting in New Delhi, United Andhra Pradesh Students' Joint Action Committee has called for a strike on July 12. The strike call is likely to have an impact in the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions where the opposition to separate Telangana is strong.
The Congress high command has invited the three top leaders of the State —CM, deputy CM and the State Congress president —to attend the core committee meeting and submit their reports. The core committee will discuss Telangana issue on the basis of the report submitted by the AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh with his own observations about the pros and cons of dividing the State.
Sources said that Singh's report tends to support the creation of Telangana to avoid the elimination of the Congress from the region. But he further warned that division of the State will also result in some Congress leaders quitting the party. The activity in the Congress in New Delhi has picked up pace ever since it became clear that the core committee will give a serious thought to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Digvijay Singh, who has received representations from several groups both in support and opposition over the Telangana issue in last few days, heard the views of Union Minister D Purandeshwari, who belongs to the Andhra region.
Indications were that while core committee will have serious discussion on the issue, final decision was unlikely to be taken or announced immediately. Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in New Delhi on Wednesday that a decision on Telangana will be taken only after considering all the aspects of this issue. "Three road maps from three different leaders will throw up different ideas and options. CM Kiran Kumar Reddy will definitely oppose Telangana State and vouch for a special package but the Deputy CM who is from Telangana will press for a separate State. It remains to be seen what the PCC president has to say," said a senior party leader keeping a close watch on the developments in the State Congress. Both the road maps will warn of serious problems on the issue of river water sharing between Telangana and Andhra States in the future.