A divided Congress Core Group on Friday failed to take a decision on the Telangana statehood issue and left the matter to be decided by the Congress Working Group.
After the two-hour long marathon meeting chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh said that the Congress Working Group (CWC) will take a final call on the matter. However, he refused to give a time frame by which the CWC will meet to discuss and decide the contentious issue.
The Congress leadership, whose prime concern at this juncture is to improve the party’s prospects in the coming lok Sabha polls by salvaging some seats from Andhra Pradesh which had sent 33 MPs in 2009 elections, failed to decide whether to divide the State to create Rayala Telangana or go for United Andhra Pradesh with some financial package for Telangana.
The party obviously needs time for bargaining with Telangana Rashtra Samithi and YSR Congress of Jagan Mohan Reddy for prospect of merger and alliance respectively.
The Core Group meeting, which was for the first time attended by Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, listened to a detailed power point presentation by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy detailing how the creation of a separate Telangana was not feasible as it would create law and order problem, Naxalism and adversely impact economic activities.
However, his deputy, Damodar Rajanarasimha, who hails from Telangana, vociferously demanded creation of a separate State to fulfill the aspiration of people. He highlighted that apart from fulfilling the long standing promise, the Congress will gain in the lok Sabha polls by such a decision. But PCC President Botsa Satyanarayana remained non-committal saying that he would accept whatever decision the Congress High Command takes.
After the State leaders gave a picture of deep fissures within the party in Andhra Pradesh, the meeting attended by Defence Minister AK Antony, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Political Secretary of Congress president Ahmed Patel deliberated on the issue but failed to arrive at any consensus.
Digvijay Singh, who had submitted his report on the Telangana issue to Sonia Gandhi earlier, was pushing for resolving the matter at the earliest to improve the party’s poll prospects on the ground that the Congress will gain in Telangana while the influence of Jagan Mohan Reddy will be contained in Rayalseema by projecting Chiranjeevi in coastal Andhra Pradesh.
However, Azad, Antony and Shinde were against any such move. Their arguments centered around the fact that creation of Telangana would lead to demands for creation of smaller States like Gorkhaland, Vidarbha and Bodoland.
Shinde felt that a separate Telangana may face the rising menace of Naxalism, which has been contained to some extent in Andhra Pradesh. Azad contended that giving Telangana at this juncture will not be beneficial for the Congress in elections. So, in view of the divergence of views, Sonia Gandhi felt it’s better to leave the matter for a future date for the CWC to decide.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had separately met Sonia Gandhi and briefed her about the political situation in the State after media reports that he had threatened to quit if the Congress decides to give Telangana. The CM’s office denied these reports and said that Reddy will abide by whatever decision the Congress High Commands takes on the contentious issue.