Shinde : Tough to get T consensus

No deadline can be set till there is some agreement

• "AP Assembly is not in a position to pass a resolution recommending the division of the State to carve out Telangana"
• Brushes aside speculation of a possible decision after the conclusion of the Assembly session

Venkat Parsa New Delhi: Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday hinted that it is tough to get consensus on Telangana issue. It assumes significance in the backdrop of the stated position of the Congress and the UPA Government that it is engaged in the process of evolving a consensus on what is indeed a sensitive and delicate issue. For the first time now, Shinde admitted that consensus was difficult to get, given the hardened positions on both sides, in Telangana and the rest of Andhra Pradesh.

Shinde virtually brushed aside speculation of a possible decision after the conclusion of the Assembly session. "The entire matter is in the process. A number of times we have given dates. But consensus was not arrived at. Now, no deadline can be set till there is some consensus on this issue," he said.

At the media interaction during the release of the Monthly Report of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Shinde said the Government has been engaged in discussions. But each time an effort was made to reach a consensus, it has been eluding, given the hardening of positions. In fact, after the last all-party meeting on December 28, 2012, Shinde said, a decision would have been taken within one month. That deadline could not be met, owing to the sharp division of opinion on the issue.

There is tacit admission by the Centre that it is not all that easy to evolve a consensus on Telangana. There is a sharp division of opinion on both sides. While the demand for Telangana is raised in that region, it does not find an echo in the rest of the State.

The Centre is working for hammering out a consensus, to prepare the ground for passing a resolution in the State Assembly recommending bifurcation of the State. In the three new States created by the Vajpayee Government, the parent States have passed the necessary resolutions in the State Assemblies, recommending the division of the States of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh Assembly is not in a position to pass similar resolution recommending the division of the State to carve out Telangana.