No way forward on T, say Seemandhra Cong leaders

• Seemandhra leaders point to dilemma of Home Ministry
• CWC only announced its decision to carve out T State
• It has not spelt out any strong reasons for State division
• In absence of specifics, Ministry unable to move forward

Union Minister D Purandeswari echoed their feelings, saying any talk of Cabinet note is mere speculation by Telangana leaders

V Ramu Sarma

Hyderabad: The Seemandhra leaders are certain that despite the ongoing agitation in the region and their repeated pleas to the party high command to have rethink, AICC president Sonia Gandhi is firm in her decision. But at the same time, they feel that the government is not in a position to take forward the process as the Congress party has not done a proper home work on the bifurcation issue.

The leaders claim that the Union Home Ministry which has been tasked with the job of preparing the Cabinet note and the draft bill is groping in darkness as the party has only conveyed its decision to divide the State and has not given any clarity on the issues like the reasons for the decision to carve out a separate state.

According to one leader, the Home Ministry is not sure of what it should explain in the preamble of the draft bill. There are also issues like the status of Hyderabad; sharing of river water etc which need an in depth study. Till such time, even the Cabinet note may not be circulated, they say.

Union Minister D Purandeswari too echoed similar feelings when she said that the talk of Cabinet note was mere speculation by Telangana leaders. She said formation of Telangana State is difficult in the present circumstances. It is only the Telangana leaders who are announcing the date for Cabinet note, the minister said on Friday.

The Seemandhra leaders say that the official circles too were of the opinion that a decision was taken in haste. The only option left for the party is to initiate a dialogue with organisations and people from Seemandhra and Telangana regions and see that an amicable solution was arrived at before moving forward in the issue.

Asked if there was a possibility of imposing the President’s rule, a senior Congress leader said that such a possibility appears to be remote though nothing can be ruled out in politics. It all depends on what stand the party high command takes. If it wants to complete the process before the next general elections then such a possibility cannot be ruled out. But if it wants to follow the normal procedure then it will not resort to such measures. He added that the Congress leadership was also assessing the sincerity of the BJP and was trying to gauge whether they would really support if the bill was introduced or not. Many changes are taking place in BJP after Modi has been named as its Prime Ministerial candidate, he said.