New Delhi, July 30 (ANI): With just hours to go before a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), where a decision could be taken on forming a separate state of Telangana, party president Sonia Gandhi held a meeting with her close aides on the issue.
The meeting at Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence was attended by Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, AICC general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh, former in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad and Gandhi's political secretary Ahmad Patel.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has arrived in Delhi again and is expected to express his strong reservations over the proposed move to form the state of Telangana.
According to television reports, the UPA Coordination Committee will first meet at around 4 p.m. This will be followed by a meeting of the CWC at 5.30 p.m.
These meetings come a time when the Congress high command is said to be inclined towards bifurcating Andhra Pradesh notwithstanding the opposition from within the party and its state leadership.
According to certain media reports, Hyderabad is likely to be a Union Territory for five years and will act as joint capital of the two states to be created out of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
The Union Territory will be administered by a Lieutenant Governor. The Governor of Telangana state will be the ex-officio Lieutenant Governor of Hyderabad in these five years.
Media reports further state that a proposal to this effect is going to be put up to the Union Cabinet before August 5.
Congress MPs from Telangana have accused the Centre of following what they call a 'one-step-forward-two-backward' approach when it comes to addressing their demand for a separate state.
The Centre's flip-flop over the issue began in December 2009 when the then Home Minister P. Chidambaram promised the formation of a new state only to go back on it after a few days.
The issue was later pushed before a committee headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna. This panel did not come up with a tangible solution, but instead presented six options.
These included the creation of a Telangana Regional Council within Andhra, bifurcation of the state into Telangana with Hyderabad as the capital and Seemandhra with a new capital; bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana after making Hyderabad a Union Territory; bifurcation of the state into Seemandhra and Telangana with enlarged Hyderabad metropolis as a Union Territory; bifurcation of the state into Rayala Telangana and Coastal Andhra; and maintenance of status quo. (ANI)
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