'Srikrishna will not give verdict on Telangana'

Hyderabad, December 26: 'The Srikrishna Committee will present two scenarios in its report. The pros and cons if a Telangana state is created and not created. It will neither recommend creation of a state nor suggest a status quo.' This was how TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao pictured the report of the Srikrishna panel likely to be submitted in a few days. 'Duggal (VK Duggal, member secretary of the panel) has told me so. The report will not contain anything. There is no need to get worked up over the content of the report,' Chandrasekhar Rao said at the steering committee meeting of the Telangana Joint Action Committee here today. The TRS chief made it clear that creation of a separate state was possible only through a political decision, which the Centre had to take. To force the Centre to introduce a bill in Parliament, the TJAC and TRS would continue to keep up the heat, Rao said.

He warned chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and director general of police K Aravinda Rao against making any preventive arrests as the Dec-31 deadline for submission of Srikrishna report is nearing. 'If you resort to any misadventure, you have to repent later,' he said. The TJAC would adopt appropriate strategy at an appropriate time to secure statehood for the region. 'We have to act with tact. No point in charging at your enemy aimlessly,' he said. He warned the Congress and the TRS that if they did not prove their commitment for Telangana, they would be relegated to history's dustbin.

He said he endorsed the view of the speakers at the meeting that people of Telangana should drive away elected representatives of the Congress with broom sticks. 'People should grow to a stage where they would have no fear to corner them and question them why they were not working for creation of a separate state,' he said. 'The people of Telangana are not afraid of police battalions. Wherever there is an agitation, the police is there. This underscores the need for the Telangana leaders to act tactfully and get what the people want from the Centre,' he said. TJAC chairman Prof K Kodandaram, BJP leader Ch Vidyasagara Rao and CPI ML (New Democracy) leaders Suryam and Sandhya were among those who spoke.