TJAC presses Diggy for early solution

• No T discussion at Core Group
• Lagadapati, other leaders meet Digvijay separately

Venkat Parsa New Delhi: AICC General Secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh on Friday assured TJAC leaders led by Kodandaram that the Congress is engaged in the exercise and is working towards an early decision on Telangana. They urged Digvijay Singh that an early decision was a must, in view of the growing cases of suicides in Telangana. Kodandaram said if there is no early decision on Telangana, the TJAC will be compelled to intensify its agitation. The more a decision is delayed, the greater is the threat of the situation spiralling out of control, it was emphasised. Digvijay Singh said there is a process and the party has to follow it. The Congress is engaged in the process and a decision has to be taken either way, whether for bifurcation or for keeping the State united. The Congress Core Group meeting on Friday evening did not discuss the Telangana issue. The issues that figured at the meeting included the Food Security Ordinance and the strategy to get it passed, sealing of the alliance between the Congress and the JMM in Jharkhand and Ishrat Jahan case investigations. In fact, after his meeting with Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Digvijay Singh said that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and APCC President Botcha Satyanarayana have been tasked with preparing the roadmaps for both eventualities of the decision going against or in favour of Telangana. Once these roadmaps are received, it would be put to the Congress High Command. It is only at that stage that it will take a call. The government comes into the picture only after the political call has been taken by the Congress High Command, either way. Former APCC President V Hanumanth Rao and Palavai Goverdhan Reddy also called on Digvijay Singh, seeking an early decision on Telangana. Pressure was also mounted on Digvijay Singh when Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal and later in the day Minister N Raghuveera Reddy and Congress MP Ananta Venkatram Reddy also met him and argued strongly in favour of keeping the State united.