Decision on Telangana in one month: Sushilkumar Shinde

New Delhi  :  A decision on the issue of carving out a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh will be taken within a month, union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said Friday.

“A decision will be taken within a month… we have heard the members of various parties… we have noted their views and will brief the government about it,” Shinde told reporters after an all-party meet here on the issue.

Noting that the people of Andhra Pradesh were suffering, the home minister appealed to the youths for calm.

Representatives of eight political parties attended the meeting, which was also attended by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.

“Some will be satisfied and some will not be,” Shinde remarked to queries if the decision would satisfy people of all three regions of the state.

Terming this the last all-party meeting on the issue, he said he was satisfied with it.

“The meeting was cordial and every one expressed their views. We have noted (them) down and some of the representatives expressed that the decision should be given as early as possible,” he added.

Shinde declined to reveal the views expressed by the parties, saying it was an in-camera meeting.

Asked if the decision will be in accordance with the recommendations of the Srikrishna Commission report, Shinde said: “Everything will be considered.”

Coming out of the meeting which lasted almost 90 minutes, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao said it did not yield a result as representatives of some parties did not speak in one voice.

“Nothing has come out. (It was) a hopeless meeting,” Rao told IANS.

He said his party will give a call for shutdown in Telangana region Saturday and decide its further course of action.

Informed sources said Congress’ representatives spoke in a different vein at the meeting.

While K.R. Suresh Reddy supported creation of Telangana, Gade Venkat Reddy said he was in favour of the state being united but added that he would abide by the decision of the party high command.

YSR Congress Party representatives K.K. Mahender Reddy and M.V. Mysura Reddy said their party respected the sentiments of Telangana’s people and the central government should find a solution acceptable to all without injustice to anyone.

Telugu Desam Party, which was represented by Y. Ramakrishnudu and K. Srihari, gave a letter at the meeting written by party chief Chandrababu Naidu in 2008, which spoke in favour of formation of a separate Telangana state.

Party leaders said later that the letter was given to the then Pranab Mukherjee committee which was looking into the issue of creation of smaller states and they had not withdrawn it.

Bharatiya Janata Party member G. Kishan Reddy said that the government should call a special session of parliament to indroduce a bill for creation of separate Telangana state.

The Left parties were divided with the Communist Party of India supporting creation of separate Telangana state and the Communist Party of India-Marxist favouring an “integrated state”.

The sources said that All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen members expressed support for integrated state but said more districts should be included in Telangana if a state had to be formed.

A large number of Telangana supporters, who had gathered outside North Block, raised slogans of ‘Jai Telangana’ when Shinde and Kiran Reddy arrived for the meeting.

Police also detained a group of Telangana protagonists, including students, for staging a protest, and demanded an early decision on the issue.

This was the third all-party meeting. The earlier two, convened in 2010 and 2011 by then union home minister P. Chidambaram, had failed to evolve a consensus.

Chidambaram had announced on Dec 9, 2009, that the process for formation of Telangana state will be initiated.

However, following mass resignations of MPs and state legislators in Andhra and Rayalseema regions, the central government said the process would be initiated after a consensus over the issue.

The demand for separate statehood to Telangana, which comprises 10 districts including Hyderabad, is over four decades old.

The movement was revived by Chandrasekhara Rao by floating the TRS in 2000. He went on an indefinite fast in 2009, which finally forced the central government to make a statement.