The Congress high command has informed the State party leadership that even though it has set up the AK Antony committee to look into concerns of Seemandhra, Constitutional process to bifurcate the State will not be put on hold.
Days after Union Minister MM Pallam Raju had claimed that the very decision to constitute the panel meant that T process was on hold, none other than PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana on Friday told his colleagues that the contrary was happening in Delhi.
According to sources, Botcha told party leaders, who met him at the Gandhi Bhavan here, that the Constitutional process to carve a Telangana state out of AP was being taken forward despite Antony committee’s ongoing exercise to address concerns of Seemandhra. “Our high command is in no mood to stop the T-process. That is why Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has made a statement in the Rajya Sabha recently even though Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde could not attend the session due to ill-health. The Union Home Ministry is preparing a Cabinet note apart from taking all other steps to form the T-state,” Botcha was quoted as saying.
The PCC boss also reportedly said, “If at all any suggestions are made by Antony committee in the coming days, accordingly, there may be additions and deletions in the T-Bill. But, the process will not be stopped.”
Later, in an informal chat with reporters, Botcha said, “The Antony committee has been set up to bring about a consensus among party leaders. It will not have any bearing on the T-process initiated by the Centre.”
T is on, no split personalities in Delhi, claims Botcha
He made it clear the committee was the internal arrangement of the Congress only to address the various issues raised by leaders of Seemandhra such as status of Hyderabad and sharing of river waters.
He further said the committee had decided to meet state ministers, MLAs and MLCs from Telangana as well as their Seemandhra counterparts on August 19 and 20 respectively.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister C Damodara Rajanarasimha, ministers D Sridhar Babu and N Uttam Kumar Reddy met Botcha and conveyed to him their intention to meet the committee members on August 19.
Interestingly, minister Danam Nagender, who met the PCC boss at the same time, sought a separate meeting with the committee for Congress leaders from Hyderabad to discuss the issue of special status to the city.
According to Botcha, Seemandhra Congress leaders will be meeting at the camp office of the Chief Minister on Saturday to prepare their arguments, which are to be put forward before the committee.
Sources said the committee was under the impression that a section of the media was hyping the United Andhra movement.
Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Railways Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy on Friday said if the Centre decided to bifurcate AP, he would quit politics.
This statement is seen as a tactic to exert pressure on his party leadership to accept the proposal of Rayala-Telangana. Reddy recently led a delegation of Congress leaders from Kurnool district, to President Pranab Mukherjee and Sonia Gandhi and pleaded with them to merge Kurnool and Anantapur districts with Telangana to form a Rayala-Telangana state.
