Congress begin consultations on Telangana

Hyderabad, December6: With Justice Srikrishna Committee due to submit its report on the Telangana issue on Dec 31, the Congress high command has initiated steps to arrive at an 'appropriate decision.' Indications are that it is already holding consultations with leaders of other political parties. According to highly placed sources Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is expected to take over from Veerappa Moily as in-charge of the party's affairs in Andhra Pradesh, had held talks with a senior leader of the BJP on the advisability of splitting the State into two. 'There is opposition to State partition from within our own party. Others are supporting it. After receiving Justice Srikrishna Committee's report, we have to take a decision on the Telangana issue,' Azad reportedly told the BJP leader.

The Congress leadership also discussed the issue with a number of MPs from the State. It is learnt that TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao may confer with the Congress high command soon. The Congress leadership is caught in a cleft stick on the question of Telangana. A little over a year ago, Dec 9 to be precise -- which happens to be Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's birthday -- Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had announced that the Centre would take steps to carve out a T State.

As it was an announcement made on behalf of the Union Government, it would be difficult for it to retract. It would have to put its credibility at stake, if it has to go back on its own word. Sources said the Congress high command was 'worried over the possible fallout of such a step on its image, not only nationally but also internationally.' The Congress leadership, sources say, is debating the political benefits, in other words, the impact of bifurcation of the State in the 2014 general elections.

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in all likelihood will reap a rich harvest of votes in such an eventuality. But the Congress is not so sure of its own fate, in Telangana as well as Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra. By splitting the State, the Congress will surely be able to pin down YSR's son Jagan Mohan Reddy and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu to Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra, which will weaken their challenge considerably. But the party will have to work out a strategy and find an able leader to ride through the storm in the Coastal and Rayalaseema regions if the State were to be divided.