The Congress central leadership and the UPA government are likely to announce their final decision on the Telangana statehood issue by November 5.
AICC sources said the Congress Working Committee will be convened after
Diwali to formalise the party’s stand after a detailed discussion on the report submitted by Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and on the earlier CWC resolution on the formation of smaller states.
The Centre is also wary of any eventuality in the aftermath of the decision. Fearing violence in parts of Andhra Pradesh, the government is all set to put in place a proper security architecture to deal with the decision’s fallout, sources said.
The CWC will first formalise its stand on Telangana. A subcommittee will then be formed to hold discussions with the Congress’ key allies on the issue. After that all-party meetings will he held at both the national and state levels, possibly convened by Union home minister P. Chidambaram, to obtain the views of major parties.
The main hurdle has been a lack of consensus within the Congress and also the failure of parties like the Telugu Desam, YSR Congress and Majlis Ittehdul Muslimeen to take a stand on the matter.
Sources pointed out that a final decision on Telangana would be taken on the basis of various proposals now with Congress core committee members. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has reportedly said during a recent core committee meeting held at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence that she did not want the party to take a hasty decision on the issue. She had felt it would be better to involve all parties in consultations before making a final announcement.
Mrs Gandhi also reportedly wanted to ensure that the Congress was not blamed on the Telangana issue in the aftermath of the final decision. The proposals include granting of Telangana statehood, referring the matter to a Second State Reorga-nisation Commission, and outright rejection of the statehood demand while announcing special packages for the region.