The Congress, which has been dithering over the contentious issue of a separate Telangana state, may take a call on it during the party’s core committee meeting on July 12 here.
The party’s central leadership has summoned Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, deputy chief minister Damodhar Raja Narasimha and state Congress leader Botsa Satyanarayana with their report on the matter for the meeting.
Congress general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh on Tuesday said, “We might take a decision on July 12 during the core committee meeting based on the reports of the state leaders.” When asked to state his personal choice on the matter, he declined, saying, “ I don’t have any personal opinion on the issue of Telangana.”
The Congress is divided on regional lines over the vexed issue and is under increasing pressure to take a stand on the matter, as elections to the state assembly and the Lok Sabha are less than a year away. Much depends on what the recommendations of the state leaders would be as the chief minister his deputy and the state party president hail from three different regions and they are likely to favour a stand keeping in mind the interests of the their regions.
The Srikrishna Committee that was tasked to go into the demand for the creation of a separate Telangana state had placed six choices before the Union government but had also mentioned that keeping the state united would be the best option to pursue.