31.1.13

Congress favours creation of Telangana


Congress declared that it favours the creation of Telangana in a definitive statement which can dispel the uncertainty about the party’s stand on the vexed issue just when the region has been roiled by turmoil over the Centre’s failure to keep its pledge to close the issue by January 28.
AICC spokesman P C Chacko said, “Congress is for Telangana. It is only an issue of time. A decision has to be taken… it has to have a constitutional basis. That (process) has to be completed now.”
This was Congress’s most categorical pro-Telangana statement since former home minister P Chidambaram’s announcement on December 9, 2009 where he said that the Centre would soon initiate the process for creation of a separate state of Telangana. Although Chidambaram’s announcement was widely interpreted as a commitment to make Telangana a reality, government subsequently reversed itself, citing lack of political consensus.
Chacko’s comment tied in with indications that the Congress leadership has veered around to carving Telangana out of Andhra and that the ongoing discussions on the tangled matter may just be about timing the decision to suit the political ends of Congress. According to sources, it only confirmed what the leadership may have decided informally.
In fact, the party had appeared to be on the verge of announcing a decision favouring Telangana last week before it paused, essentially to have a closer look at the matter.
Congress is looking at two windows to announce statehood. It could either make public its stance in February or after the budget session of Parliament in April. Sources said the party has tied up loose ends and the only lingering concern is the repercussion that statehood could have on a sensitive pocket like Gorkhaland. Congress’s new-found decisiveness on an issue it was wary of touching for the fear of political backlash springs from its desire to recover the ground it has lost in Andhra Pradesh, the state which played a crucial role in its consecutive wins in two Lok Sabha elections. The party’s fortunes have been hurtling southwards since the death of its CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in 2009.
The U-turn after the December 9, 2009 “commitment” on Telangana turned the region against Congress with TRS leading the charge even as Jaganmohan Reddy’s rebellion cornered the party in Coastal-Rayalaseema.

No comments: