Reiterating what other senior Congress leaders said earlier, PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana on Monday said it was not possible to set a time-frame for the talks being held by the Congress high command over the Telangana issue.
Botcha, who all these days spoke sympathetically over the issue of state bifurcation, on Monday made a U-turn saying the Congress had promised statehood to the Telangana region in its manifesto but had also included setting up of second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) in it. It could be an indication that the Congress high command might either divide state or keep it intact.
Unperturbed by the TJAC's decision to take up protests during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Hyderabad on Tuesday, the PCC chief made some bold remarks on the issue of state bifurcation at a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan.
On Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's remarks, Botcha said, "Azad did not say anything wrong. He only said the Telangana issue was not an easy task to deal with like the formation of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. He said that the Congress high command was trying to bring consensus among all the stakeholders. I appeal to the leaders of the Congress from both the regions not to distort the comments of Azad," Botcha said.
Reacting to the comment of senior Congress leader K Kesava Rao, who wanted to know why the Congress had promised statehood to the Telagnana region in its manifesto during 2009 polls when it was not ready to keep the promise, Botcha said.
