T not on UPA agenda

• The issue not on Common Minimum Programme: Chacko
• Congress holding talks on consensusA
• Party has made no specific promisesA
• No directive can be issued to CM on tainted ministersA
• CM will await court ruling before taking a decision

Venkat Parsa New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday made it clear that Telangana formation was not on UPA agenda and ruled out that no Central directive would be issued on the issue of tainted ministers in Andhra Pradesh and it is for the individual ministers to take the call. The two Union Ministers had resigned on their own volition and it was pointed out that no comparison could be drawn to suggest that the Congress High Command will issue a directive on the issue of Andhra Pradesh ministers.

Congress spokesman P C Chacko said Telangana was not on the UPA National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP). The formulation in the NCMP was to work for a consensus in the direction and no firm commitment was held out on the issue of creation of Telangana. That exercise is on and the Congress is holding consultations to evolve a consensus on the issue. The Congress, it was claimed, itself made no specific promise to form a separate State of Telangana. It was pointed out that even the Congress Working Committee (CWC) Resolution favoured setting up of the Second States Reorganisation Commission to look into the issue of creation of new States. On the issue of the tainted ministers, the senior Congress leader pointed out that no directive can be issued to State Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, as government formation was the prerogative of the Chief Minister. The High Command refrained from being drawn into the issue, insisting that it is a State subject and it is for the State Government to take a call on the issue. Apparently, the High Command has given a free hand to Kiran Kumar Reddy on the issue of tainted ministers in his Cabinet. For his part, sources stated, the Chief Minister would wait to see the observations of the court, before taking a decision on the tainted ministers. A visibly happy Chief Minister returned to Hyderabad, after meeting AICC General Secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad, AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh and AICC Treasurer Motilal Vora. Kiran Kumar Reddy's meeting with Azad on Saturday was significant, as it took place after Azad's meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday night.