It is official now. Toeing the line of AICC state affairs in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde too has said there is no time-frame to resolve the Telangana issue.
Further shattering whatever hopes left over Telangana statehood, the Union home minister dropped enough hints that the Centre as well as the Congress high command are unable to arrive at a conclusion over the vexatious issue.
Shinde said, “We want to decide the issue either this way or that way at the earliest. However, as the process of consultations is still under way, it is not possible to take a quick decision. It is also not possible to set a timeframe for this exercise.”
The Union home minister, who has not directly interacted with reporters on the issue after the expiry of his self-imposed deadline of January 28 for a decision on Telangana, spoke on the issue before the media at his office in Delhi on Monday.
The press conference was a part of the routine monthly media briefing on the performance of the home ministry.
When reporters wanted to know the status on the T-issue, Shinde replied that it was not a closed chapter, but is still open.
The Centre is still holding consultations, he added.
Shinde’s remarks came at a time when Governor ESL Narasimhan and PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana were in Delhi on Monday and an impression has been created in political circles that the Centre and the Congress high command are trying hard for a solution before the completion of the budget session of Parliament, which will commence on February 21.
The Union home minister’s statement also indicates clearly that the ‘resignations’, tendered by seven Telangana Congress MPs have no impact on the high command.
Interestingly, days after chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy reportedly submitted a report to the Centre as well as the Congress high command opposing bifurcation of the state, Shinde said there was no timeframe.
Kiran Reddy, during his recent visit to Delhi, is learnt to have told his party leadership that bifurcation of the state would only help YS Jagan Mohan Reddy strengthen his party in Seemandhra.
He has suggested setting up of a Telangana territorial administration.