Chacko eats crow

A day after creating a flutter with his remarks on Telangana, Congress spokesman P C Chacko on Sunday clarified that Telangana was very much a part of the UPA agenda. He insisted that his comments on Telangana were misunderstood and misconstrued as if the issue was not a part of the UPA agenda. Explaining his comments made on Saturday, Chacko said in a statement that the Congress was aware of the sentiments of the people of Telangana and a decision would be taken as soon as the ongoing consultation process was over. "Telangana is very much part of the UPA agenda and a decision on this issue will be taken at the appropriate time. The Congress party is aware of the sentiments of the people of Telangana and a decision will be taken as soon as the consultation process is over." The Congress is not opposed to the demand for Telangana. However, a process has been laid down earlier during the creation of the three States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand. That is the parent State should pass a resolution recommending to the Centre on the division of the State. In the case of all the three States, such a resolution was adopted in the respective State Assemblies of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In the case of Telangana, the Andhra Pradesh Assembly could not adopt such a resolution as the principal political parties were sharply divided on regional lines. This happened in the wake of the statement by the then Union Home Minister P Chidambaram that the process for the creation of Telangana had been set in motion. After that the Congress has started consultations process within the party to evolve and crystallize the stand of the party on Telangana. On a parallel plane, the government also started a consultation process by convening the all-party meeting on Telangana. The last all-party meeting on Telangana was held on December 28, 2012, but a political consensus was elusive. Venkat Parsa